Over the two month or so from the beginning of 2008, the three major game platforms (Sony, PSP and Nintendo) are seeing the release of a big action games for at least one of their game platforms:
God Of War - Chains of Olympus, released by Sony for PSP: March 4, 2008 (Trailer HERE)
Devil May Cry 4 released by Capcom for Xbox February 5, 2008 (Trailer HERE)
Samurai Warriors: Katana Released by KOEI for Nintendo Wii in January, 2008 (Trailer HERE)
But for my money, the games that have been released for the Wii have not really taken advantage of the game technology of the Wii so the poorer graphics and story line just does not cut it. My initial enthusiasm to add a Wii to my game platforms has waned in the light of the game quality I see.
Perhaps Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will finally move the Wii platform into games that really excite the imagination and challenge the senses! Produced by LucasArts for Nintendo Wii, the release date for the Nintendo platforms are still vague and given the competition from other leading platforms (the game will be released for Xbox (July), PSP (April), PS2(?) and PS3(July) Nintendo will have its work cut out beating these platforms even with the bonuses that the Wii offer to players.
Its a shame, really, because the Wii does add a fantastic new dimension to game play. But unless Nintendo can get games developed that really take advantage of their system along with sophisticated graphics then they are likely to be beaten at their own game as Sony and Microsoft develop their own “wii” sytsem!
The Wii is storming the world with over 20 million units sold around the world. And Wii Fit is going to storm the world too. This is fitness made fun - and the beginning of virtual entertainment on a mass scale. Just have a look at this preview of Wii Fit Boxing:
US: April 2008
Europe: June 2008
Australia: 2008 (TBA)
Watch for the Bitfood review of the Wii Fit options. In the meantime you can get a look at what will be available from the following screen shots (virtual - left, actual -right):
Everyone loves thoseLolcats, and they’re everywhere: even in your Wii! The Lolcats are now being used to promote Geometry Wars: Galaxies for the Nintendo DS and Wii.
Namco Bandai has announced that it will start the production of the Power Pad again. This game peripheral for dancing appeared in 1987 for the first time under the name Family Trainer and was used in association with the NES. Nintendo bought the rights and published it in Europe and America under the new name of Power Pad. They used it for some Aerobics and fitnessgames but it wasn’t really a huge success. Now that games like Wii Fit are very popular the company has decided to give it another shot.
Family Trainer Athletic World will be the first game to use the renewed Power Pad. It’s planned for a release in Japan in 2008 and it’s coming exclusive to Nintendo’s Wii. In this game you’ll also have to use the WiiRemote.
The ‘Wii would like to play’ guys from the Nintendo Wii commercials are back for a Metroid Prime 3: Corruption TV ad. Their style doesn’t really fit with a game like MP3 Corruption, but here it is anyway!
A couple of months ago Cyanide-Studios
announced that they started working on Runaway 2 for the Nintendo Dual Screen.
In the meantime they also started to develop
a Wii-version of this same game.
An interviewer asked Cevat Yerli what Crytek’s
plans for Nintendo’s Wii are. He said that they’re
doing some testing but they don’t have any projects
that they’re working on. The plan to make a full Wii
game in three or four years, in the meanwhile they
want to do some more other next-gen projects and
they probably just like to mess around with a Wii
development kit.
Last time when we had the new Japanese hardware sales in, the Nintendo DS Lite was still on the lead. In the software sales of this month it’s a Wii game that’s the hotseller. Japan seems to love more partying in Mario Party 8. SD Gundam G Generation Crossdrive isn’t selling bad as well, and on the third place is DK Jungle Climber.
Japanese software sales - 13/08 - 19/08
1. (Wii, Nintendo) Mario Party 8 - 113,000 / 616,000
2. (DS, Bandai Namco) SD Gundam G generation Crossdrive - 48,000 / 186,000
3. (DS, Nintendo) Donkey Kong Jungle Climber - 48,000 / 93,000
4. (Wii, Nintendo) Wii Sports - 35,000 / 2,035,000
5. (Wii, Nintendo) Wii Play - 33,000 1,639,000
6. (DS, Nintendo) My Household Diary - 33,000 / 122,000
7. (PS2, Konami) J League Winning Eleven 2007 Championship - 32,000 / 227,000
8. (DS, Nintendo) The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - 32,000 / 756,000
9. (DS, Nintendo) New Super Mario Brothers - 30,000 / 4,729,000
10. (PS3, SCE) Minna no Golf 5 - 28,000 / 278,000
Konami has announced at the Leipzig Games Convention that it’s developing a Wii version of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. With Wii controls using the WiiRemote and Nunchuk this game will have to compete with Electronic Art’s Fifa 08 that even contains Mii characters. Konami says the game will look as realistic as on all other next-gen platforms. (more…)
Yesterday a Nintendo of Europe releaselist slipped out of Nintendo’s hands and fell in the hands of some curious gamejournalists. Today Nintendo released a full Nintendo DS and Wii release schedule for the coming months. Europe has to wait until 2008 for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but they can count on Super Mario Galaxy on November 16th! (more…)
