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Better watch out when playing Tennis
We've all seen the damage that has been caused by improper Wii use and faulty wrist straps, but this one just takes the cake and throws it to the ground, repeatedly stomping its delicious frosting and innards into an unrecognizable paste. It's sad really, because we like cake. A lot ...Upon watching the embedded video, available past the jump, keep in mind that it's pretty fake. What would the crime be called, anyway? Wiislaughter?
VC Monday: Tennis (NES), Space Harrier II (Gen), Military Madness (TG16)
In just a few short hours -- at precisely 12pm ET -- Tennis (NES), Space Harrier II (Genesis), and Military Madness (TurboGrafx-16) will clamber out of their Craftmatic adjustable beds and drag their weary bones onto the Wii's Shop Channel, part of a weekly ritual we've come to know as Virtual Console Mondays.They may be old, but that doesn't mean they don't have any self respect! Nope, if you want to reignite that old fling, you're gonna need to pay ... just not as much as you used to. Though this troika of platform-specific releases have temporarily joined forces on the Wii, a distinct class system is still evident. NES titles, like Tennis, fetch a cool 500 Wii Points, while Genesis titles, like Space Harrier II, are going for 800 Wii Points. That's 100% more bits for only 60% more Points! Clearly, you can see the injustice being perpetrated here! All the while TurboGrafx-16 is still rambling on about that 16-bit graphics chip of his, so they figured an extra 100 Wii Points for those games oughta shut him up.
First Wii Sports: Tennis glitch
digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/gaming_news/First_Wii_Sports_Tennis_glitch_shown'; The first glitch for Wii Sports: Tennis has come in and, when diving for an unplayable ball far to the outside of the court, the opponent Mii became stuck in the crowd and resulted in a two-on-one match up. We didn't get footage of the shot leading up to the glitch, but thankfully the fine fellow responsible for the glitch thought to grab the camera for the rest of the match.Video is embedded into the post past the jump.
Wii Sports has depth
In the surprisingly oft-updated series "Iwata Asks", Iwata sits down with some heavy hitters from the Wii Sports development team. We all know the reason that the game exists: to introduce to gamers, new and old, how easy and intuitive Nintendo's magic voodoo wand of a controller can be. Many, however, have expressed fears on how such a simple title could long hold a player's attention.Iwata asks the developers these very same questions. The developers go through every one of the five games, describing in detail some of the more complex facets of gameplay. Though the lengthy article is most certainly worth a read, some key points are summarized below: In Wii Tennis, the developers note how impossibly difficult it is to "hit the same exact shot twice". The game measures your skill level numerically, and pits you against over sixty progressively more difficult opponents. The game also has a new "rocket serve" feature, whereby if a serve is hit at the very apex of the ball's toss, the first shot will get an intense burst of speed. Though the controller cannot technically read one's full body motions, Wii Boxing was designed to move the player's body in-game when a player actually dodges, via the subtle hand movements during said dodge. In other words, the game will work best when the players actually dance around, dodging punches and counterattacking. Wii Golf has taken nine of the best classic holes from the original NES Golf (on which Iwata himself programmed!), and remade them in full 3-D glory. Only eight people worldwide would have recognized this, but it's a nice little bonus. Wii Bowling contains absolutely no arbitrary random variables, as many bowling games seem to. However, despite this, no one at Nintendo's internal testing team was able to score a perfect 300 game. To help you hone your ball rolling skills, the game offers three training-type minigames to pass the time. Also, in a nice touch of realism, you can actually roll the ball away from the lane or even into adjacent lanes around you. To those who feared that Wii Sports would be a two-day affair, worry not. Between your girlfriend and your grandmother, we're sure that your racket-swingin' days will last far into the future.
Wii Sports and the games within
We've been speculating on exactly how many different games will be included in the Wii Sports title for awhile now and even wondered if the game would be bundled with the system, so it's nice to finally be able to report a concrete number. Coming in with 5 total sports, Wii Sports will include Nintendo's take on golf, baseball, tennis, bowling, and boxing (sans Mario and the crew). The addition of both bowling and boxing is very welcomed by the Wii Fanboy staff, in case you wanted to know (you didn't).So previous rumors of a compilation of over 30 games is out and the airplane game previously rumored to be included is out, as well? Bowling is pretty much a gimme in terms of thinking how one would play the title using the Wiimote, but what about Wii Sports Boxing? Well, we had an idea about how one would play a boxing title on the Wii and are fairly sure our previous theories on the matter will prove true, causing many to cringe at the extra $40 US they'd have to drop just to be able to punch with both hands. Personally, we can't wait to get home on November 19th, open our Wii box and mess around with the Mii channel, maybe even going so far as to make an avatar to throw down in Wii Sports. One thing is certain: we will be the greatest bowler of them all.
Roddick takes on Pong in ad
It seems Madison Avenue is increasingly looking to video games for inspiration. First we see the world of Grand Theft auto transformed by a coke, and today we stumble across an ad for American Express that pits Andy Roddick against the paddle from Pong. The tennis pro has some trouble getting the ball past the massive white rectangle that covers nearly half the width of the court, but ends up besting the eponymous paddle with some ingenuity.The whole thing kind of reminded us of this recent piece on universally accessible games, which featured an example of a 3D player-model taking on a simplified Pong game. Is the American Express ad department reading Joystiq for ideas? Probably not... but just in case, we're still waiting for the ad in which Mario has to spend his hard-earned coins on late fees and ballooning interest payments.
Could Wii Sports be bundled with the system? [Update]
We receive lots of emails from readers. Some full of praise for the impressive vocabulary skills and intricate imagery provided by our crack team of Ludwig bloggers. Other emails ask us if we would like to receive lucrative reimbursement by aiding rich African Presidents in liberating their funds from the clutches of usurpers only by submitting our bank information. However, sometimes we receive wonderful emails that produce deep thought within our staff. One such email arrived recently where the sender proposed that Nintendo could very well include Wii Sports with the console at retail.This started the hamster to run on the steel wheel in my head, which is an analogy for my brain. Remember folks, intricate imagery. I started to think back to what Nintendo's launches had been like in the past. The NES launched with Super Mario Bros. The SNES launched with Super Mario World. The N64 failed to launch with a game, as well as the GameCube, and if you're a superstitious person, you might think that the lacking launch of the N64 was the start of the downhill trend of hardware launching without proper software to back it up.
New Virtua Tennis 3 screens
The post about Sega's trailer for Virtua Tennis 3 didn't quite garner the response you'd expect from such an esteemed franchise. Okay, so maybe there's something a little funny about those character models, but at least you can see their veins (according to creative director Matt Woodley). That's always a good sign, right?Anyway, here are some more screenshots to analyze. There is still something to be said for the consistent gameplay though, seeing as how character aesthetics or veins won't win match points. Sega can serve up an ace with this one for loyal fans, but detractors of the system may find something to criticize.
"Just press the green button", I said
"Just press the green button" Oh, those fateful little words. How naive I was to think that they wouldn't affect the ability that my sister was soon to display in a casual game of Rockstar's Table Tennis.
Wii Sports expanding?
An innocuous line of text found on Nintendo's official E3 website has us wondering: might we see Wii Polo in the future? The bottom of the Wii Sports page has a final bullet point, "Additional games may be added to the Wii Sports group." Interesting.What other sports do you think would be a great fit for the Wii controller? No. Darts is not a sport.
Miyamoto talks Wiinaming, caricatures
In talking with CNN Money's Chris Morris, omnipotent game designer Shigeru Miyamoto expresses what just about everyone has been thinking, at least until recently: "Revolution" is a much better name than "Wii." Miyamoto notes that a large part of the decision to change to the shorter and much easier to mock name came from the belief that non-gamers would feel threatened by a term normally used for violent uprisings and/or anti-parasitic pet medications. "When we first thought about it, myself and others felt that the name Revolution was very appropriate to what we were doing, but [Revolution] is a name that was almost threatening to non-gamers. It wasn't acceptable. So we thought this was more friendly and inviting."In the same article, Miyamoto also hints that the Iwata and Reggie caricatures seen in Wii Sports: Tennis aren't just an in-joke, but a customizable feature of the game. The thought of playing as (more) deformed versions of ourselves has us amused and intrigued--could there be another Wii secret in store, such as a camera attachment or the ability to read photos from a USB storage device? Nah, it's most likely just an avatar creation utility like those found in Animal Crossing: Wild World or Mario Kart DS, albeit a much more advanced one thanks to the Wiimote's abilities.[Via Joystiq]
Wii impressions: Wii Sports -- Tennis
Simple, intuitive and fun are buzzwords that have been shoved in our face ever since Nintendo announced the Wii, but I can't really think of any better words to describe my experience with Nintendo's distinctive tennis game. Sure, it's just a tennis game, but it's one that requires you to wave an imaginary racket in the hopes of hitting a clump of polygons representing a ball. I wouldn't say that the game is more immersive or realistic for it, as it still feels like a very laid back and simple session of whacking a ball back and forth. The controller is very reactive to your motions, and I quickly felt confident regarding the location of my virtual racket within 3D space. It didn't take long for me to start balancing on one foot and grunting like a pro each time I waved the wiimote. The only thing that seems confusing about the game, at least initially, is that it doesn't seem to allow you to control the movement of your character on the tennis court itself. My character seemed to gravitate towards the ball on his own, positioning himself just within reach of the ball hurtling across the net. Still, I found that the simplicity merely added to the fun and lightheartedness of what was essentially two grown men waving invisible rackets around. Great stuff.
Widget Watch: The 2006 Australian Open
Today's widget is a Dashboard widget by Anson Parker. The 2006 Australian Open widget lets your browse scheduled matches, resulting scores and even view pictures of the competitors. Moving between matches, players and dates is easy. It's kind of large with the photos displayed, but there's an option to hide them. If you're a tennis fan, check this one out.
