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Joystiq hands-on: TARGET EDITION! (of Shaun White Snowboarding)
Breathe a sigh of relief. It's not nearly as bad as it first sounded. In fact, the "Target edition" of Shaun White Snowboarding might actually warrant a trip to Target for game shopping. And, didn't you hear? Target expects plenty of Wiis in stock this season. Why not do all your holiday spending there?The marketing ploy is quite clear, and a good one. Building off its apparel partnership with Shaun White, Target has positioned itself to offer, exclusively through its retail and online outlets (oh, hai Wal-Mart!), a premium edition of Ubisoft's snowboarding game, and in turn, a hook to lure consumers into crossing off all the game requests on the holiday gift lists they're responsible for. (A recent survey found that 90% of tweens and teens are expected to ask for a video game this year.)That's right, we said premium edition. While the Target-branded version will cost an additional $5, it'll include roughly 20 percent more game content (which, we were told, will never be offered as DLC). More specifically, the standard edition, available through all other retailers, will feature four mountains (each divided into peak, park and backcountry sections); the Target edition will include a fifth mountain, the "Target Mountain," which isn't as large as the original mountains, but does boast some interesting extras, like a full loop to attempt in the Xbox 360 version (identical to the PlayStation 3 and PC versions) and a trip inside the Target Chalet, based on the elitist party pad in Aspen. We know what you're thinking: But, what about the ads?%Gallery-23905%
Ubisoft really wants you to buy Shaun White Snowboarding
How do we know? Because they're throwing a lot of money into advertising the game. $10 million, to be exact, all in the hopes that you'll want to hit the virtual slopes with Shaun and the gang.The campaign started last night, where Ubisoft purchased all of the ad space on the season premiere of popular television show South Park. That's not it, either, as it's being reported that Shaun White will make appearances on ESPN shows on November 16th to promote the game. In addition to that, Ubisoft is also purchasing air time on select Viacom channels with the purpose of promoting Shaun White Snowboarding.%Gallery-29887%
Tetris Party gets physical
Tetris Party is out soon, which means we get to dust off our Balance Boards and play Tetris the way Tetris was always supposed to be played: by leaning and squatting. Tetris Party producer and cool hat-wearer Tony Tran has generously demoed the Balance Board mode, which looks straightforward enough: you lean to steer your tetrominoes across the screen, and squat to rotate them. The playing field is drastically reduced to allow for the imprecision of balance-based controls. It looks quite fun, though this video did miss one thing: footage of Tony playing this mother on level 20. We suspect our own knees, weakened by a lack of exercise due to a life spent blogging, would struggle to get beyond level 5 with all that squatting.%Gallery-18122%
We Ski & Snowboard & look at screenshots
Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboard looks cute and fun, sure -- mostly because it looks a lot like We Ski. In fact, it pretty much is We Ski, just with the option of turning the Balance Board sideways and some new levels, and yet we're oddly compelled by these screenshots. Whether or not you enjoyed the games' predecessor, which got mixed reviews, we'll guess you'll find these shots as appealing as we do. %Gallery-33423%
Tetris Party: October, 1200 Wii Points, 'Squat Mode'
Nintendo has kicked off the second day of its fall media summit with a close look at Tetris Party, a robust addition of the evergreen puzzler for WiiWare. The game's producer has confirmed an October release, priced at 1,200 Wii Points ($12) -- or roughly 67¢ per mode (there are 18 of them!). Included in the bunch is a Balance Board mode exercise that requires squatting to rotate the pieces. Betcha can't beat 10 lines! Gallery: Tetris Party
Microsoft Surface made pressure-sensitive with Wii Balance Board
So you've got a spare Microsoft Surface and Wii Balance Board laying around, whaddya do? Well, you could try stacking them on top of each other and hope that big-ass table doesn't crush your little plastic Nintendo toy, and with some code slapped on what you'd end up with is pressure-sensitive surface computing. This clever little concept was cooked up by Josh Santangelo from "Stimulant." In his demo, featured after the break, he rocks Surface from side to side while colored spots roll back and forth, using a physics engine he developed for MS Silverlight. It's a great start and we would love to see this resourceful hack put to good use -- beyond that of a totally awesome yet ridiculously expensive tilt-a-maze game, minus the maze.
Hudson dates Kororinpa sequel for North America
Click image for new screens Hudson just sent us a press release stating that Marble Saga: Kororinpa will be making its way to North America in the spring of 2009. The sequel to Marble Mania: Kororinpa, the game will feature Balance Board support (which we already knew about), Wi-Fi compatibility and lots of new levels to explore. On top of that, there's also 4-player local multiplayer to enjoy, as well as "customization features."Hit up our gallery below for some new screens and if you want to see the game in motion, check out the GC 2008 trailer here.%Gallery-33098%[Via press release]
Guess the new feature in Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboard
Nintendo used the first Family Ski from Namco Bandai (called We Ski here) as a showcase for the Balance Board, to show that the board could be used for more than exergaming. One of the next titles to use the Wii Fit peripheral will be ... the sequel to Family Ski! Called Family Ski: World Ski & Snowboard, the new game adds (obviously) one new method of downhill transport, the snowboard. The snowboard can be operated like the snowboard in Wii Fit, using a rotated Balance Board, or with the Wiimote alone. The new game also features a new locale, the Jamboree Snow Resort, with all-new courses.
Hit the slopes in Europe with Shaun White on Nov. 14
Click for full-sized image Shaun White's Balance Board-compatible game will be hitting retail shelves on November 14th across Europe, for all of you who've been watching the game and found it to be to your liking. When the game was announced, we merely got a "holiday 2008" window, so it's good to get a concrete date down. And we assume that North America will receive the game around the same time, so look for an update here when we find out more.Who's anxious to hop on the Balance Board and check this out?%Gallery-29887%
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%
Vertigo: Super Person Ball
Racing. Sci Fi. Labyrinth levels. Balancing. Upgrades. Balance. Human bowling. Playlogic's Vertigo doesn't look like the greatest game ever or anything, but it's damned weird. "Upgrade your Xorb, seek hidden shortcuts and collect power ups to help you survive, to become the fastest and most envied Xorber in the Universe!" How can you not get excited? They pretty much just told us to get excited.Games like Vertigo, which is slated for both PC and Wii before the end of the year, raise interesting questions. If the controls are decent, particularly with the Balance Board -- which Vertigo supports -- does it become worthwhile? What does something like this really need?%Gallery-32555%
Jillian Michaels' Fitness Trailer 2008
Uh, guys? Did your Balance Board come with a set of damn monkey bars? We're starting to feel a little ripped off. Just asking.The first trailer for Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 is out, and while it's full of promised butt-kicking, there's also a fair amount of game footage, as well as some discussion of the title's features. Verdict: the graphics look a little less than good, but does something like this need to look great? It's already one-up on Wii Fit: part of the title's philosophy is simultaneous multiplayer. Does that mean two Balance Boards? From the footage in the trailer, it's impossible to tell whether those games are Wiimote and Nunchuk only, or if they require boards.
It's okay to like Shaun White Snowboarding
Poor Shaun White Snowboarding. Ubisoft's Balance Board snowboarding title is still most famous for being played by a barefooted Cammie Dunaway during Nintendo's ill-received E3 press conference, rather than for ... actually looking quite nice. Surely there are others out there who privately think this looks like it might be fun? Personally speaking, this blogger largely enjoyed the SSX games, and absolutely loved 1080° Snowboarding on the N64, and different bits of this video reminded us of both. If you also think Shaun White shows promise, but you'd rather keep this extremely shameful secret to yourself and save internet face, give us a wink or some other coded hint in the comments.%Gallery-29887%
Born for Wii: Punch-Out!!
Sometimes you just have a bad day. It happens to the best of us; even video game bloggers are not infallible. And after a rage-inducing, hair-pulling bad day, you can go home, curl up in a ball and listen to The Wallflowers in surrender, or vent some of that anger. By punching people.But hold up there, tiger. You can't punch real people. That's, like, illegal. Enter the Wii: the best simulation for punching people outside of the real thing. Unfortunately, Wii Sports Boxing does not offer the realistic experience of mashing in someone's face Stallone style. Worse, no other boxing game since the Wii's release has really delivered a solid boxing experience. That could change in the near future with Facebreaker K.O. Party, forcing me to eat my words like a knuckle sandwich from Rocky Marciano. But if its Xbox/PS3 counterpart is any indication, there's not much chance of that. The same goes for Don King Prizefighter. This shaky reliability just won't do. We need Punch-Out!! #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } NEXT >> %Gallery-31971% Every week, Born for Wii digs into gaming's sordid past to unearth a new treasure fit for revival on the Nintendo Wii. Be sure to check out last week's entry in the series, Jet Set Radio, and for more great titles that deserve your attention, take a look at Virtually Overlooked.
Hudson doles out invitations to Tetris Party
Tetris Party, the Hudson-developed, Balance Board-supporting Tetris game with more modes than you could shake an inverted L tetramino at, will be out on Japan's WiiWare store at some point next month. Unlike most Tetris games, Hudson seems to be putting some real effort into Tetris Party, coming up with some obscure (but fun-looking) variations on just dropping some blocks.Be prepared to pay, though: at 1,200 Wii Points, this will be one of the most expensive WiiWare titles on the market. One day, we'll sit down and calculate how much money we've spent over the past 20-odd years on different Tetris games. This will probably be followed by incessant sobbing.%Gallery-18122%
Wii Fit sales bring profits in Q2 for Toys R Us
Wii Fit is helping all kinds of retailers make money. In fact, the fitness bundle from Nintendo is still hard to find. Now, we hear that the package helped drive profits up for retailer Toys R Us. During Q2 of last year, the retailer had a loss of $42 million. This year, the company turned profits of $13 million.%Gallery-24459%
Balancing it in Skate It video
These videos for Skate It -- today's and others -- beg one major question: how long is it going to be before people start busting their Balance Boards? A week after the game's fall release? A day? The one thing we're sure of is that it's going to happen. Boards will be busted. People will cry. But in the meantime, we're going to lean into lots of fun, and all without having to brave the prospect of introducing various body parts to the rough, hard asphalt. Gallery: Skate It
Punch your way to fitness in Shape Boxing Wii de Enjoy Diet
Despite its toony appearance, Shape Boxing Wii de Enjoy Diet regards itself more seriously than the boxing in Wii Sports. There are no Miis to be found here, more technical details (such as different boxing stances) are taken into consideration across the title's 28 lessons, and the game will dole out nutritional advice in a bid to get/keep you toned. Less seriously, you can punch bears, which we don't recall seeing in Rocky IV. Anyway, the overall vibe seems to be self-improvement.This releases in Japan on October 30th, and will use the Balance Board in some way. We're betting it could actually improve your fitness, based on the fact that we were wheezing, crimson-faced wrecks after one and a half minutes of Wii Sports boxing.%Gallery-31258%[Via Siliconera]
Wii Balance Board used to control Roomba... for reasons unknown
For Roomba hacking extraordinaire longjie0723, it's just another day in the office. Grasping for one more way to control the circular vacuum with something video game-related, he keyed in on the Wii Balance Board. Granted, he's already had success controlling the Roomba with a Wiimote, so we assume that whipping this one up was a lesson in simplicity. We still can't really understand why this here hack is necessary, but unlike decisions made by publicly traded companies, independent DIYers don't need no logic to get their mod on. Video after the cut.[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
Balance Board Roomba hack floors us
We had two questions upon watching this footage of a Roomba being controlled by a Balance Board: What the heck is a Roomba? Why? Google answered the first for us -- apparently it's a robotic vacuum cleaner or something, which we now want -- while the second is explained to us by hacker "Ron" Tajima. Through endearing Engrish subtitles, we learn that Ron has a dilemma: he wants to surf, but also needs to clean his floors. Hey, happens all the time to us. His solution? Hack the Balance Board so that it controls his Roomba, allowing him to "surf" the Board while also vacuum cleaning his way to lint-free carpets.We especially like how "Surfin' USA" is played in the background while Ron wobbles away, just to make it really feel like actual surfing.%Gallery-23865%[Via Balance Board Blog] Join us in exploring things to do with the Balance Board that aren't Wii Fit. Walk the world! Drive a car! Weigh a cat!
