Gaming Blog

Filed under: What are you playing?

Who doesn’t want to rock?

Of this week’s releases, the only notable title is Rock Band. Following our poll regarding the game, we know a lot of you are steering clear of the title, and we can’t blame you, especially with the promising Guitar Hero: World Tour hitting shelves later this year. But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

With the weekend here, what will you be playing during your downtime? Did you pick up Rock Band? Playing something else, like Okami or Mario Kart Wii? What disc is going to be spinning in your Wii this weekend?

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Filed under: Rumors

According to an apparently reliable, but unnamed, source, Vooks reports that Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be released in Australia on June 26. That’s just one day before Europe’s release (and still several months after both the U.S. and Japan, of course) but what a difference a day makes.

For that one glorious day, Australian Wii owners will be able to feel the pride of not being the last to receive a game. And it’s such a big game! Of course, Aussie Wii fans got a taste of not-lastness with Mario Kart Wii, but timeliness is addictive.

Congratulations, Australia. That is, if it’s real. If this turns out not to be true or if Nintendo delays Brawl again, we can only say sorry, Australia.

It won’t come as any surprise that EA is planning Wii and Nintendo DS “spin off” versions of its skateboarding franchise skate—IGN spilled the beans accidentally in April—but you might be surprised at how good it looks. It might not be on par visually with the Xbox 360 and PS3 entries, but Skate It, at least based on the trio of screen shots IGN secured, looks pretty good.

Skate It looks to replace the dual analog control scheme from the original skate with a Wii remote-only method that looks serviceable based on the promo video. As expected, the game also plans to use the soon to be release Wii Fit Balance Board, but executive producer Scott Blackwood is light on details. IGN has the full scoop.

Skate It on Wii and Nintendo DS [IGN]

Filed under: Screens

We immediately cried out, “Bullshots!” when we sighted these screenshots released with Battle Rage: The Robot Wars’ Wii press release today, but then we remembered that a PC version of the fighter is also in the works.

With a quick comparison comparing the image resolution with other screens for Wii games (and a bit of common sense), we were able to confirm our suspicions that these shots are, indeed, too good to be true. That said, if graphical detail isn’t a primary concern for you, jump into the gallery for three new screenshots of the four-player arena combat game.

And, while the images might not be for the Wii release, there’s no doubt that this European boxart is! The cover actually looks badass, you know, despite Data Design Interactive’s out-of-place Popcorn Arcade branding.

Details about the actual game: 20 weapons, 10 arenas, 8 robots, special melee/ranged weapons for each robot, customizable robots, arcade mode, team battles, 2036 setting, yadda yadda yadda, convicts trying to earn their freedom by battling mechs for a bored society’s entertainment.

[Via press release]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

So Nintendo showed up at our place today with a Wii Fit — and an accompanying personal trainer to crack the whip and make sure our half hour of intro exercises and fitness games burned a sufficient amount of calories. Things we learned: our BMI is on the upper end of the “normal” bracket (shocking, considering how sedentary we are blogging 12 hours a day), our balance is kind of crappy, our “body age” is 39 — over a decade more than our real age — and no, not even Nintendo can make a fitness game that doesn’t feel at least vaguely like PE. And now the 64k question:

View Poll

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Time’s running out: You’ve got only two more days to get the Wii Fit and offend mom on Mother’s Day–or at least pre-order one, as it’s not available until May 19. And to make up for the tardiness of the misguided gift, there’s …

Filed under: News

We know what you’re thinking: the Wii needs another minigame compilation!

The latest in the line of “party games” is Party Crashers, which has a crash test dummy theme to it. Specifically, the game was inspired by Twelve Interactive’s Cid the Dummy — a multiplatform game that’s not even out yet. Even worse, many of the games will have to be unlocked, and if you’ve ever played a party game with a “feature” like that before, we’re sure you know how annoying it is.

There’ll be twenty-five minigames available in this title, which will range from puzzles to music-based games. To get an idea of what these will entail, some of the activities include “Pie in the Face,” “Chinese Plates,” “Dummy Cannonball,” “Pizza Delivery,” “Treasure Island,” and “Dummy Dance.” You won’t be able to play such tantalizing-sounding minis until next April, though, since that’s the planned release month.

Even though we’re labeling this as do not want, we’re glad we had an excuse to listen to the Crash Test Dummies’ “MMM MMM MMM MMM.” We always find a silver lining!

Filed under: News

It’s not just North America and Australia that are seeing a television revival for Gladiators — the UK is getting its own remake this summer, as hosted by Kirsty Gallagher and the highly slappable Ian Wright, and Nintendo has coughed up £1m to make sure that the “Wii” name is plastered all over it. Marketing Week reports that all transmissions and repeat transmissions of Gladiators will be exclusively sponsored by Wii, as well as all on-demand Gladiators content through Sky Anytime TV.

Although we don’t personally think of gurning, lycra-clad beefcakes whacking one another with giant cotton buds whenever we boot up Nintendo’s box, we can certainly see where the company is going with this: back in the 1990s, Gladiators was renowned as wholesome teatime entertainment for the family (well, in Britain at least — I’m not sure about the U.S.), and will no doubt attract a similar all-demographics-covered audience this time around.