rayman-raving-rabbids
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Nintendo Power scan seems to confirm 'Rabbids Go Home'
After raving for nearly three years, who can blame Ubisoft's spastic rabbids for wanting something more substantial? That something, as it turns out, is likely a new action adventure game for the Wii, familiarly titled Rabbids Go Home. Apparently revealed in May's Nintendo Power, the game reportedly sets a pair of the player-controlled bunny-things on a quest to return home -- and by home we mean the Moon -- by building a giant tower out of junk. GoNintendo has a single scan, as well as a handful of details, though following three releases and more minigames than we care to count, we half expect the trip into space be just another excuse to party.
Ubisoft bringing select titles to Mac gamers
Through a partnership with TransGaming Inc., Ubisoft is poised to bring select titles to Mac gamers (yes, we repeat: "Mac gamers") through retail and digital download channels. The two most significant offerings will be Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding, although Ubisoft will also provide CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Hard Evidence, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Petz Sports to retail locations for the first time. Those games are currently only available through Ubisoft's website. You can download Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding for Mac from Ubisoft's site (and look for the other games on retail shelves) next month.
GameStop letting the rabbids out of the bag early?
Reader Joshua is one lucky dude. He managed to score a copy of Raving Rabbids TV Party from his local GameStop. Being that they specialize in games, we're surprised to hear about them violating the street date for this title. Sure, it's only a week early, but while Joshua is sitting at home, enjoying his game, we're writing about him enjoying his game. Oh, how we wish we were him!If you're looking to score a copy early, you might want to hit up your local GameStop, as Joshua suggests. They might do the same thing for you. And if you're looking for some video from the game, hit up Joshua's site here.%Gallery-23883%
Rabbids rave about fitness
One of the best parts of the Raving Rabbids TV Party concept is that it can be stretched to make fun of almost anything. If there has ever been a TV show on a subject, TV Party can parody it. Thus "MISS FIT," a Rabbid fitness show starring a bearded Rabbid called Chuckie Morris, uses references to Chuck Norris's late night Total Gym infomercials as a cover for a parody of Wii Fit. The most hilarious bit about MISS FIT to us is that it's really not all that different from Wii Fit!Other new videos at IGN feature the return of the rhythm and rail shooting games from previous Rabbids, as well as a sort of maze adventure in which players control the balls inside a lottery machine.
Raving Rabbids: Figurine Party
A new series of Rayman Raving Rabbids toys is being allowed to run wild in European stores (by "run wild" we mean "sit motionless inside packages"). To coincide with the release of Raving Rabbids TV Party, Ubisoft announced plans to release figures of smiling and screaming Rabbids, along with critters dreed in Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell garb. A Prince of Persia figure is visible in the preview art but not mentioned in the press release.Coolest of all, Ubisoft will sell a box including the four Rabbids mentioned along with a blank Rabbid designed for DIY decoration. This Rabbid is available on its own on ubiart.com right now! Dea Ubisoft: American gamers have space on their meticulously organized, dusted shelves as well! %Gallery-23883%
Rabbids -- Raving Rabbids
The latest teaser video for Raving Rabbids TV Party is short, but entertaining. A mini-trailer, perhaps, for minigames! It's also delightfully timely! More like Quantum of Lol-ace, amirite? We're not sure what it is about these little guys. We get the routine already -- they're loud and stupid and pull faces -- but for some reason, we're nowhere near tired of them yet.After the break, a trailer from last week that eschews movie parody in favor of actual gameplay, as well as the "happy friends in front of couch" footage we've come to expect from our Wii trailers. Somehow, TV Party interprets "wrestling" as "whacking each other with plungers."%Gallery-23883%
Joystiq impressions: Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party
The Rabbids are back. We liked the original, thought they dozed on the sequel, and hope the combination of randomness and fun returns for TV Party. More than 50 mini-games are shipping with the new Wii game, most of which will be playable with four people. About 30 percent of the games will be able to use the Balance Board, although the fad device won't be required. We played three mini-games at the Nintendo Media Summit and are hopeful that this will be the best version yet. We'll know for sure after the November 11 release.%Gallery-33764%
Rabbids discover their heroic side
If there's one thing we don't tolerate, it's rabbid hate. All of the rabbid haters can suck on a lemon, for all we care. And, like previous teaser trailers, this latest one does not disappoint and haters have no grounds to ... well, hate. It's a spoof on the television show Heroes, which is incredibly appropriate given that Raving Rabbids TV Party is doing the spoofing. Better luck next time, little guy!%Gallery-23883%
Balance Board taking over Rabbids TV Party, blog makes butt joke
Ubisoft rather likes money, and therefore is enamored by the best-selling Balance Board. Perhaps this is why the range of Balance Board-compatible minigames in Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party has been stretched, to the point where half of the 75 games will feature Balance Board support -- previously, that figure was one-third. We guess Ubisoft really wants to see you playing with your butt more, amirite lol?!"Hilarity" aside, offering greater Balance Board compatibility makes perfect sense. There's a gap in the market for Balance Board games that aren't Wii Fit right now (only We Ski is currently on store shelves), and Balance Board owners are probably looking for something else to play, now they've perfected their Sun Salutation.%Gallery-23883%[Via Go Nintendo]
Major Minor's Ultimate Raving High School All-star Samba de Dance Dance party @ E3 2008
The first thing we noticed when we stepped into the Showcase Pavillion at this year's E3: This is really quite small. The second thing we noticed: Everyone seems to be dancing! Everywhere we looked, there seemed to be someone (usually with a Wii Remote/Nunchuk in hand) waggling about to some vary hard-to-hear music. But don't just take our word or it. Check out our video montage of just some of the dancing fools on this year's show floor. See if you can guess which dancers are random attendees and which ones are PR people who've been assigned to pretend to be interested in dancing these same steps ALL DAMN DAY. Fun!
E308: Rabbids TV Party flexes its muscle
While you may be able to play Raving Rabbids TV Party with your butt, you probably can't use your butt to look at the new screenshots that have surfaced. If you can? Well, we don't really want to hear about it, thanks.Once you start looking for butt, you realize that it's everywhere. Just check out this screenshot -- you've got a rabbid clinging to this poor bovine creature's ass with his ass ... and what's the move called? Backside tail grab. Listen, we're not insinuating anything about Ubisoft here. We're just pointing out the obvious.%Gallery-23883%
E308: Wii Fanboy reacts to Nintendo's keynote [update]
[Updated: Now with JC talking about things!]With so many highlights from this year's Nintendo E3 keynote, we're finding our live chat wasn't enough to cover our thoughts and opinions on what was shown. So, below, you'll find some impressions akin to what we did last year. Enjoy.
And the epilepsy debate continues, this time in Parliament
Although some companies (like Ubisoft) have volunteered to do extra epilepsy-related tests for their games, the existing standard isn't enough for some people. Take, for example, famous and loathed mom Gaye Herford, who's responsible for bringing this fight to Parliament after her son suffered a fit while playing Rayman Raving Rabbids DS.Sprong reports that the House of Commons debate was held yesterday, with members supporting different solution. Margaret Hodge, the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, pushed for a voluntary testing system, which could be changed to mandatory in the future if the issue remained problematic. John Penrose on the other hand led a more paranoid debate, stating, "The point is that some games manufacturers may decide to do that, but there is a huge number of games-makers and manufacturers throughout the world. Some are large and responsible, such as Ubisoft, but as in any industry, there is a large number of manufacturers who are relatively tiny, and although some may be responsible, we cannot be sure."It doesn't seem as if a final decision was reached, but you know politics -- things take a while to get done.[Via Game Politics]
Rabbids crash Euro 2008
The Rabbids are funny. It's especially funny when they get into situations where freaky white blob animals aren't the norm. Like, a soccer game. This latest teaser for Raving Rabbids TV Party shows one particular Rabbid getting in a bit of trouble after crashing the field at Euro 2008.Kudos goes out to Ubisoft for putting together great little teaser films like this. Video game advertising can sometime get a little stale, and originality ensures gamers continue hitting that play button. The Rabbids can tease better than pretty much anyone else.%Gallery-23883%
Mother's campaign to bring video game seizure concerns to British Parliament a success
By now, you've probably noticed the seizure warnings interjected into the start-up screens of many games, giving the .02 percent of the population that suffers from photosensitive epilepsy (PSE) a heads-up that the following game may not be entirely safe for them to play. However, Gaye Herford, a mother residing in England, has brought her concerns over game-related seizures to British Parliament after her 10-year-old son suffered a seizure following a round of Rayman: Raving Rabbids on the Nintendo DS.Parliament has agreed to debate whether or not rigorous testing for seizure-inducing material in video games should be required by their developers on a heretofore undecided date. Television and films are already tested in this manner, but no countries require similar checks for games. Ubisoft has independently agreed to begin performing these tests on all their future titles, though we find it difficult to imagine how one makes a mini-game compilation featuring hyperactive, mutant rabbits without using some PSE-sensitive material.
Mom wins her fight in Rayman Raving Rabbids epilepsy ordeal
Over the last year, UK mom ("mum" is the word over there, we believe) Gaye Herford has been fighting to change the way games are tested before they are sent to retail. Her 10-year-old son, while playing Rayman Raving Rabbids, went into an epileptic fit. She had no idea that games could send players into photo sensitive epileptic (PSE) seizures. We guess she hasn't seen the intro splash screen Nintendo has had around since the Pokémon incident.But, after a long year, she has won her battle. Ubisoft has volunteered to do the testing itself and will try to ensure such a thing does not happen again. Herford also managed to secure a debate in Parliament, for a future date that is yet to be determined. "As a parent myself, I was shocked that a single game could possibly trigger a sudden first-time seizure, with its life-long implications," says Weston-super-Mare MP John Penrose, who helped Herford in her battle. "Right now, most electronic game publishers simply issue written warnings about PSE on or inside their products - and that's on a voluntary basis. But that's no good for the thousands of people with dormant PSE because they don't know the warnings - if they even read them - apply to them." At the time of the article, no comment was made by Nintendo. Ubisoft did say, though, that testing of Rayman: Raving Rabbids on the DS "showed that no images posed a high risk for photosensitivity epilepsy. However, we made a corporate decision to pre-screen and pre-test all Ubisoft in-house developed games regardless of platform, prior to publication."
Rabbids to return to DS, may even get noticed
Despite the fact that the first two games appeared on the DS, the Rayman Raving Rabbids series has always been more closely associated with the Wii, either because the original was a Wii launch game, or because the DS iterations are pretty mediocre.Now, the involvement of the Balance Board is threatening to relegate the DS edition of Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party to an even more insignificant footnote, but we hope the DS game stands on its own. The Rabbids are liked by pretty much everybody we know, and deserve a worthy handheld game. Protip though, Ubisoft: it's probably best to avoid this kind of publicity.[Via press release]
Raving Rabbids TV Party, for use with balance board, coming this winter
Click to embiggen ... Daaaah! var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Raving_Rabbids_TV_Party_announced_uses_Wii_balance_board'; Those wascally wabbits are back. Ubisoft has announced Raving Rabbids TV Party, due out this holiday season for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Said the press release, "The Rabbids plan to invade televisions worldwide, providing players with a variety of games and comedic exploits spoofing TV shows, pop culture and even advertisements."As was hinted in a recent video (embedded after the break), TV Party will make use of the Wii balance board. Early screenshots indicate the balance board is not required for every game, but will involve sitting on the board and shaking your butt. Said CEO Yves Guillemot, "The inclusion of the Wii Balance Board into the game was a huge source of inspiration for our development team and I guarantee you will see the Wii Balance Board used in ways that will be surprisingly unexpected!" More details are to come at this year's E3.%Gallery-23881%
Raving Rabbids balancing out their wacky life [update 2]
[Update: Screens available in our gallery!]After solving a moon mystery, the more astute Fanboy readers noticed the inclusion of a rather understated header on the latest cover of Nintendo Power. The game formerly known as Raving Rabbids 3 will henceforth be known as Raving Rabbids TV Party, as if we needed a reminder to plug our Wii into the TV instead of some shrubbery out the back. Despite the Rabbids showing us how the Balance Board ought to be used, we couldn't confirm that the next addition to the series would go nuts with the whole leaning and weight-shifting thing. However, the teaser wasn't teasing and among TV Party's 65 mini-games, many (maybe even most) will use the Balance Board. If using Wii Fit was enough to make your friends laugh stupidly (they are right to do so), then getting down with these crazy critters is enough for them to consider finding new people to hang out with. %Gallery-23883%[Thanks, RingmasterJ5!]
Get teased about Rayman Raving Rabbids 3
We don't have to tell you how charmingly insane those little rabbids are. Even when it comes to Wii Fit, they just have to find their own delightfully ridiculous way of doing things. Well, it would seem, based on the teaser trailer above, that you can look forward to a third installment in the Rayman Raving Rabbids franchise. Hard to believe, we know, seeing as how a lot of you bought the previous titles in the franchise.Who's excited about a new Rayman Raving Rabbids game? Anything you'd like to change in the new game that you weren't all that happy about in the last two games?
