Pokemon Battle Revolution looks impressive

Link to more pics


A good looking Wii game? Pokemon too? A double shot.

Download any movie and watch it on the Wii with this program!

Link to Wii Video 9

Have you tried to watch downloaded movie clips on your Wii stored on your SD card only to find that no matter what you seem to try it never works? Well online site Redkawa has found a way to convert any video that you download from the internet to work on the Wii.

Sadly the Wii only uses MJPEG to play movies. However, if you download a MJPEG movie clip from the internet and try to make it run on the Wii it usually never works and is very frustrating. This program makes any movie type work on the Wii, it doesn't matter what you used in the beginning since the converter will make all movies MJPEG.

It works great too!

Set your Bitrate (kbps) to 8192 if you want the best and most clear quality on your movie conversion. It takes more space on your SD card but its worth it. I recommend a 2gb SD card, I would say a 4gb SD card but the Wii is only compatible with 2gb for now. Start downloading!

Wii is a huge hit

REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 27, 2006 - Built on a foundation of pure fun, Nintendo’s new Wii™ video game system sold through to more than 600,000 consumers in the Americas in just its first eight days of availability. That’s a rate of nearly one per second continuously since the Nov. 19 launch. Including just first-party software and accessory sales, Wii instantly has become a $190 million business in the Americas.

During the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend, there was plenty of conversation across the nation about the high demand for the Wii system, with the acknowledgment that if you see one, you’d better buy it.

“Even with sales already in excess of 600,000 units, demand continues to exceed supply, as it’s clear this is one of the ‘gotta-have’ products for the holiday season,” says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “We’ve shipped retailers several times the amount of hardware the other company was able to deliver for its launch around the same time - and we still sold out. Given the inclusive nature of Wii game play, we’re seeing this new form of video gaming is already a huge hit with gamers and newcomers alike. It continues to be a phenomenal launch.”

The system also is succeeding in its stated mission of reinvigorating current players, while attracting new ones. Every Wii system includes the five-game Wii Sports™ software, which is the talk of the Internet, featuring countless reports on how previously devout non-gamers have suddenly been converted via the amazing new way games are experienced using the system’s remarkable controller. At the same time, the masterful The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess, a favorite of avid gamers, already has achieved sales of more than 454,000 units in the Americas, representing more than 75 percent of all hardware purchasers.

Licensees, pleased not only with the sales performance of the Wii, but also its creative development capabilities, are publicly sharing their comments:

“Madden NFL 07 is a great example of how the Wii gives players a whole new experience on their favorite games,” says EA Studio President Paul Lee. “EA’s creative teams are working to build more Wii features into some of our most popular franchises.”

“The creativity we’ve been able to unleash on the Wii system with our game Red Steel has been eye-opening for our development teams,” explains Ubisoft President Laurent Detoc. “Having the opportunity to design and develop entirely new game-play experiences using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk is both exciting and rewarding.”

Classic games also are proving to be a hit on Wii, which offers downloadable access to 20 years of the best of Nintendo®, Sega Genesis® and TurboGrafx16™ hits via the system’s Virtual Console™ feature.

Nintendo press release

The Wii is huge and it looks like there is no stopping it anytime soon. Selling out all over the country and soon the world.

It's a Thanksgiving Wiikend

" don't fall asleep in front of the TV. Keep your eyes glued to Comedy Central's Thanxgiveaway

-- we're giving away 48 hourly prize packages that include a Wii console from
Nintendo and a TomTom ONE GPS car navigation system, plus a Grand Prize
featuring a tricked-out Scion xB!"


Link to Comedy Central


Any of you win a Wii this weekend? I've been playing mine too much to pay attention to Comedy Central for each time to win, but I'm sure some of you out there who don't have a Wii yet are dying for a chance to win.

Sadly Red Steel fails to impress

This was supposed to be THE game to get to go along with Zelda this year. We all were sucked into the hype and made to believe that this game would be really great, and not only that but be a true showpiece for the Wii's graphics capabilities. It turns out that this game got the gameplay all wrong and the graphics only half right-sometimes.

I bought Red Steel on launch day with Zelda, I have played a great deal of it to this point. When I first read the reviews for this game before it came out (Gamespot) I figured that they were just being biased again (Zelda review anyone?). Sadly, it turns out they were right. This game is just broken and it is definitely the developer Ubisoft's fault all the way.

Problems with Red Steel:

-Control is not good, in fact it makes you want to play with dual analogue again. For the Wii, control is the most important aspect, and this game is a failure at making the Wii-mote something better for FPS games.

-The Sensor bar looses the Wii-mote at critical times during gameplay. It seems to have a very weak and shaky connection with the Sensor bar, and its the only game that has done this to me so far(I've played 6 Wii games). Unforgivable.

-Yes we all know that the game just turns too slow, and I knew this going in but it does make you seem even more crippled when you add in the Sensor bar issues and sensitivity issues.

-The graphics are really horrible looking a lot of the time. The Wii is not about graphics right? I totally agree with that, but I've posted screenshots of Red Steel on my site that were made to look better than what the actual game looked. I was definitely expecting more. The jaggies are so so bad that it pains me to watch this game in action sometimes. The Wii can do so much better. I'm talking BAD jaggies guys; in a later level in the game there are a lot of lights on the wall and if you look at the lights just a little bit ahead of you they break up into a couple white jagged little lines. When you get close to them they finally become a solid rectangular light. You have to see it to understand for yourself. The textures on most walls are good, but there are way too many walls that have no texture on them at all and makes this game look very bland at times. The character models kinda look good, but I would have to say that Resident Evil 4 had better looking ones with more detail. Sad. Also if you play this game on a non-widescreen TV you will have black bars that are permanently on the screen and you can't adjust anything with the aspect ratio in the option menu. The list goes on. All of these things add up and make this game just look very weak even compared to other Wii launch games.

Guys, I was looking so forward to this game. Anyone who followed this site knows how excited I was for Red Steel. It is so disappointing to see that this game fails on so many levels when I was so hoping for this to be a really great game. Ubisoft will most likely make a sequel because it looks like this game is selling really well because of all the pre-hype. I hope they fix everything that was wrong with this game and make the sequel much improved on all levels.

You want to see the potential of the Wii-mote in a FPS game? Call of Duty 3 gets the job done so much better than Red Steel for the controls. However, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz has a FPS mini game called "Monkey Wars" that INSTANTLY feels great and easy to play. Its very sad that a MINI game in Monkey Ball can make a game like Red Steel (2 year dev time) look so bad in comparison. First Person Shooters can be done well on the Wii, just try Call of Duty 3 or Monkey Wars and you will see the true potential that we have been waiting for. There is no doubt in my mind that future FPS games will be totally awesome on the Wii. Red Steel is going to be a painful growing pain for developers to learn from.

My thoughts on Gamespot's "low" Zelda score

By now a ton of you have seen the Gamespot review of Twilight Princess. Now I've seen the message boards saying "Death to Jeff Gerstmann" or petitions to re-review the game by someone else. It is times like these when I'm glad I have this site to share my own views on things like this.

Let me tell you right now that I have not played Twilight Princess yet, but from reading his review I can already see that he was wrong on a few things and its easy to see. He says that the game offers nothing "new" to the franchise: "it's still a little disappointing that the series hasn't evolved much at all with this latest installment." Huh? He lost me on that one. I've read just about all of the reviews and previews for this game and I've seen a lot of which that couldn't be done on previous Zelda games.

Here are some brand new things to the Zelda franchise that I know about just from reading other site's impressions:

1. The game uses the Wii remote for free motion in sword fighting and for aiming your arrow/hookshot/slingshot etc.

2. Link can transform into a Wolf and can talk to animals while in this form.

3. The story telling has been transformed into a much more deep and rich experience than ever before.

4. This is the first 3-D Zelda game where link has been an adult(or young man at least) from the very beginning of the game.

5. For the first time in a Zelda game Link can now sword fight while riding on a horse or other animal.

These are just things that I've read about that you can do in this new Zelda that could not or have not been done before in previous Zelda games. I'm sure I can find more once I've played the entire game all the way through. The series hasn't evolved much at all he says? Changing much more would make this game not really a Zelda game anymore and something completely different. If Tingle is the star of the next Zelda, I'm sure Jeff will get his wish (I hope to god that rumor is not true).

Another point of reference is the fact that Gamespot decided to pick Jeff Gerstmann a reviewer that should only review Xbox360 games since he is a known Xbox fanboy. It is also known that he has never really liked the Wii and its unique control. How could anyone expect a fair review of a game when it already has those things going against it with the reviewer himself? Yes it is only 1 review but it looks glaringly worse when this is the only review that received lower than a 9 score out of all the reviews so far. Also most of the reviews out there are giving Twilight Princess 10's and 9.9's. Something just looks way too fishy about this Gamespot review. This is why they assign reviewers to review for certain systems, like IGN does. You get far less of a chance of something like this happening just because the reviewer doesn't really like or "get" the Wii and its controller.

Shame and utter embarrassment to Gamespot and all of its editors for this ridiculous and strange review.


Link to Gamespot review

Aonuma's final thoughts on Zelda

"Before the decision to make a Wii version of Twilight Princess was finalized, the Zelda team experimented to see what would happen if they used Wii controls. During their tests, they found something that they felt would be a perfect interface for the game. Aonuma came to the decision that it would be beneficial to extend development in order to increase the quality and make the Wii version.

One of the big complaints about Wind Waker was that it could have used a few extra dungeons. Famitsu asked Aonuma about the volume in Twilight Princess. "We're exceeding Ocarina of Time. There's a lot of variety in the dungeons, and I think people will be able to play to the end without growing weary."

Aonuma also confirmed that the Hyrule in Twilight Princess is the largest the series has ever seen. "I didn't expect it to become this big," he said with a laugh. "At the end, you'll have experienced what it's like to have an adventure extending to the farthest reaches of this expansive world."

Link to the rest of the interview

New Sonic and the Secret of the Rings pics

Link to more screens

Looking great I must say! The long wait for the game is paying off because Sega is putting up a good effort into making this game look and hopefully play great.

New Need For Speed Carbon screens

Link

The Wii version of this game really doesn't look much different from the other versions, even the 360 version. I know some of you will say no way, but I've played the 360 version and it looks just like these screens. The motion blur is better on the 360 version but I really don't think it matters much.

Wii to play DVD's with software upgrade in 2007

"Early this morning, SONIC Digital media software announced they will be providing Nintendo with its CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator, a software that will allow the Wii to play DVD movies. This comes amid conflicting reports, and is the first confirmation of a Wii’s DVD playability in markets outside of Japan.
The software isn’t expected to be released until sometime late 2007."

Link

Since Cineplayer CE DVD Navigator is a software, we should be able to download this upgrade in the Wii channels next year. It seems that the Wii would've been priced more at launch because of the licensing fees to provide this player into each Wii.

Metroid Prime 3 to have much upgraded graphics for 2007 release

"The build of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption seen at E3 is being completely spruced up for its 2007 release and will look MUCH more impressive, rather than merely a shinier edition of MP2 from the GameCube."

Link

So I guess the delay of Metroid Prime 3 had much more to it than just letting the Third Parties have some of the cake for this holiday. I think Retro may have been getting tired of people saying it looks no better than Gamecube(it did, but they didn't really give credit). We'll see how it pans out.

New Twilight Princess screens

Link to more here

Most of these are from the second Dungeon that could not be shown or talked about up until now. Are you dying for this game like I am?

Can the Wii reverse this trend?

Link

The Wii has all the makings of a hit, but the Gamecube "hit" a new low for Nintendo in terms of console sales. The buzz on the Wii however, is much stronger and more wild even than Gamecube ever has been in its 5 year existence. I'll go on a limb and say that the Wii will even surpass the N64 total sales.

Even more Wii goodness

Some of these movies I'm sure you have seen before(Far Cry, Need for Speed). The others are new however and I just thought I would post them all just incase any of you missed the other two. Enjoy

New Red Steel video

This game is really looking great. The in game voice-over work reminds me of Perfect Dark. " You Bitch!" Remember that?

Hilarious.

Sonic and the Secret Rings pics

Link

Some of these you may have seen recently and some you may not have seen. I've played the Xbox 360 demo of Sonic and I can already tell that the Wii version almost looks as good as the 360 version. They are both different games but the graphic quality is very similar from what I've seen.

First US Red Steel Commercial

This is really funny and really shows how much potential the Wii has. I liked the part when the teacher gives up on the guy and just says "Oh enough, get the guns." Priceless.

Popular Science says Wii is best of 2006

"Remember when videogames were fun? When the controllers had only a couple buttons and you didn’t have to spend an hour learning the seven-step finger dance for “walk?” Nintendo does, so it took a step back, looked at its superpowered competitors, and took a totally different path with its new console, Wii (pronounced “we”). Nintendo’s processor is 75 percent slower than an Xbox 360’s. The company decided that gamers didn’t need to pay extra for photo-realistic renderings of its iconic talking mushrooms. Instead it reimagined the controller, introducing a three-axis accelerometer that transforms your hand motions into in-game action, so you really play the games. In Wii Tennis, for example, swing your hand just as you would a racket. In Excite Truck, hold both ends of the controller as if it were a steering wheel. And look out for that tree, because, photo-real or not, these games will draw you in."

Link

More good press for the Wii? Seems like everyone is starting to realize the Wii is really going to do something special, and it's no fluke.

Not just South Park but Comedy Central likes the Wii

"Comedy Central will once again exploit the properties of tryptophan with its "Thanxgiveaway Wiikend," an event designed to expose the turkey-tranquilized to Nintendo's Wii gaming console and Toyota's Scion.The cable net will give away 48 Wiis and 48 TomTom portable GPS devices over the weekend of Nov. 23-27.

To enter, viewers have to tune in to interstitials running throughout the weekend that will include code words they can enter online. The interstitials will feature four families in a reality TV spoof that takes place on Thanksgiving Island and is hosted by comedian Brian Unger. "It's sort of Gilligan's Island meets Survivor; it's our own kind of take on reality shows," said Heather Zarnett, CC vp-promo marketing.The interstitials also will work in plugs for Wii and the Scion. A grand prize winner will receive a tricked-out Scion that looks like a Wii console."

Link

Looks like Comedy Central sees the potential of the Wii just like most people who know about it. Has anyone even seen a US commercial for the Wii yet? I haven't, but it seems that everyone knows about the Wii regardless. Are you finding that people know about the Wii in your area, even without commercials helping to promote it?

Wii-mote control options and more

Link

This graph also shows what you can do with all the other controllers as well. Looks like the Gamecube controller can control all types of systems on the list; which makes me wonder what special feature does the Classic controller have that the Gamecube controller doesn't? If none, then why have it? Interesting

Hajime no Ippo Revolution pics

Link

If any of you have seen the video for this game you would be amazed at how awesome the animation looks. Screens look ok but you have to see this in motion to really appreciate the look.

White Wii game disc for Japan and US?

Link to more pics

These are pics taken from the Nintendo World event in Japan a few days ago. I really like the style of the white game disc for the Wii. It makes me wonder if the games will look the same for the US or will they get their own make-over with a different color?

My hands on impressions with the Wii

Most of you are reading Zelda impressions right now, but a lot of people just haven't given Excite Truck the proper attention yet(seemingly). I didn't have the luck of playing Zelda yet, but today I did get to play the Wii for the very first time with the final retail version of Excite Truck.

The feeling you get when you first play the Wii is one you'll never forget. Nintendo is truly bringing the Arcade experience home to the people with this system. What you are not supposed to be able to do at home, you now can-and better. The EB games close to my home got the Wii kiosks in yesterday and finally got it up and running with Excite Truck today.

So I went in and what did I see? One of my best friends was already there playing Excite Truck! He got there 15 minutes before me and was having a blast with this game. He did try to reach me but I was stuck in traffic and didn't have a phone with me during that time. So my first impression of the game was that it looked great. The TV was a wide screen Samsung, and at first I thought it was running in 480p because it looked so clear and clean. However I soon found out that the game was running on Composite cables, which in fact bodes very well because the game will look even better in Progressive Scan.


GRAPHICS:

Friends really, don't worry about the graphics on the Wii. This game does not push the Wii and I was totally satisfied by its look and effects, and I've played plenty of Xbox 360. You never are telling yourself that "wow this game looks so much worse than 360". Its really a non-factor. The game has great ground textures, great reflections on the water(great water in general), nice car models and a nice motion blur when you turbo. I only found the graphics lacking a bit when you crash into a tree, which is understandable. You are not meant to be sitting there looking at the leaves of a tree when you are trying for 1st place. Still, the trees lacked detail and didn't have good textures. Tree details are moot however since they are minor parts of the levels and don't stand out too much. Nothing to worry about.

SOUND:

The sound is nothing too special in this game-so far. I can confirm that you can in fact use your SD-card to put your own MP3 soundtrack into Excite Truck. This fact is good since the in-game music lacks any "hooks" and is for the most part hard rock with not much soul. What is kinda cool is that when you fly though rings or crash into another car, the sound can be heard on the Wii-mote speaker. Does this add anything you ask? I think it adds more depth to the sound that was already lacking but nothing more than "oh that was cool". I wouldn't turn it off though so I guess its pretty good. There is no voice over work in the game, and I think this is a plus because in Nintendo made racing games you tend to get the really lame race announcer(I'm sorry but the Wave Race 64 announcer can't be forgiven).

CONTROL/GAMEPLAY:

This is where the Wii separates itself from the other systems and puts you in a new feeling when it comes to playing games. Sure this is a tilt control game and it does not use the Wii pointer, but I still have not played anything like this before and that's saying something regardless of past "tilt" games. Basically you just fall in love with this little controller and it works perfectly. Tilt left or right to turn left or right. Tilt forward or backward to control the front angle of your car. Everyone says that controls for Excite Truck feel too sensitive at first and maybe that made me prepared for the sensitivity because it felt really good almost right away. I made huge turns and small turns, I crashed a bit but I never felt like it was the controls fault. What some people don't understand about racing games is that you just need to know the level, if you do-you'll know when to turn and how much to turn. When playing these levels for the first time the game is very forgiving, because even if you crash pushing the "2" button fast enough will give you a big turbo boost and you don't lose very much in the standings in the race. Forgiving.

CONCLUSION:

Which leads me to my only real concern for this game. Its too easy. My friend and I traded off for over an hour and we unlocked the Gold-Cup. It looked like there were 4 cups and we totally beat two of them and unlocked the third in an hours play. If you know these levels you are going to win, pure and simple. Its great fun and very satisfying but it seems like a very short game. However this is an Arcade game for a console system and you can't really expect a very long length. I'm willing to bet the game does in fact get much harder later on and gives the game more legs. I also did not get to try the 2 player mode yet which I'm sure will be a lot of fun. This is a great game guys, I just think that when I go back to play tomorrow I'll beat it completely and there will be no reason to buy it when it comes out. This will not be the case for most people because usually they don't have a lot of time to stay in a game store to play these games. This EB games however has almost no business because most people go to another Gamestop a couple miles away. For some reason this lesser known EB games got their Wii kiosks before the others did in my city. More play time for me before people start to wise up to it.

In the end though Excite Truck=really great fun that shouldn't be missed by anyone.

New Super Smash Bros Trailer

Click here for the Trailer

The game looks awesome and a ton of old school Smash Bros fun. Looks like Fox learned some better Kung Fu since the last game.

New South Park Episode is about the Wii!

Link

The show has not even aired yet here in San Diego, CA but I've found a pic that was put up on the Neogaf game forum. Looks like Cartman really wants the Wii.

I think we can officially call the Wii mainstream now and its not even out yet.

*Update*

I just finished watching the episode, and I must say that it was very good. Cartman wants a Wii so bad that he is willing to freeze himself for 3 weeks until it comes out. The other story in the episode is evolution vs. creation being taught in school and just the beliefs in general(the never ending feud).

Cartman freezes himself in the snow and it turns out that he wasn't frozen for 3 weeks but more like 500 years when he wakes up in the future. Everyone in the future has turned atheist and a war between other atheists is happening. All Cartman wants is a "Nintendo Wii" to play during all of this and thats all that matters to him. So Cartman is trapped in the future and the Wii is nothing but an ancient game playing device long forgotten. We'll find out what happens in the next episode since this one was to be continued. Great show!!




Thank you to everyone that came to the site today. Good times

New Smash Bros. screens

Link


I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg for the wave that is sure to be coming soon for Smash Bros. I think its safe to say I'll be buying this when it comes out....

New Zelda pics

Link

The wait is almost over!