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Tetris Party Deluxe coming to Wii and DS this June
Tetris Party is coming out again, this time in the more expensive "on disc" format. Originally a WiiWare release, Majesco and Tetris Online, Inc. are teaming up to release Tetris Party Deluxe for both Wii and DS this June. The retail release has a few enhancements over the WiiWare original, such as three new modes: Sprint, Master, and Bombliss. Unfortunately, none of these three modes are as inventive as the modes introduced in the original WiiWare game, like Field Climber, Stage Racer and Shadow. A price has yet to be set on Tetris Party Deluxe, but it'll be difficult to justify much more than the $12 asking price the downloadable version currently sports. A retail release on the DS is a bit more palpable, promising all the content found in the Wii version while offering a key feature DSiWare cannot capitalize on: the ability to play on every DS system out there. To see all the differences between the three versions of Tetris Party, check out a publisher-provided chart after the break.%Gallery-86546%
USK rates Tetris Party Deluxe for Wii
Everyone's favorite -- and fun to say! -- ratings board, the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle has unveiled a new Tetris game for the Wii. Well, that might be a little generous, as the game is actually Tetris Party Deluxe, presumably a sequel to 2008's Tetris Party. The new game comes again from publisher Tetris Online, meaning it's probably not one of Majesco's recently announced Wii and DS Tetris projects. The listing doesn't make it clear whether the game is a retail title or -- like the original -- a WiiWare release. [Via Siliconera]
Bring a friend to the latest Tetris Party tournament
Tetris Online is gearing up for a Tetris Party ... party. It's announced the second in its series of tournaments, this time featuring the WiiWare puzzler's co-op mode. Between February 1 and 15, registered teams of two will be able to compete to get the highest score and fastest time to 150 lines. The top 100 teams will receive 1200 Wii Points, just enough to get that copy of Tetris Party they clearly already have.These tournaments finally justify all that time and effort most of us have put into Tetris. Extreme line-clearing skill always seemed like the kind of thing that should help people get ahead in life, but until these tournaments, it just hasn't. %Gallery-18122%
Playing Tetris helps with trauma, study says
We've always been big fans of Tetris, to tell the truth, and now it would seem the game has real health benefits. According to a study done in the UK, the game can help those with post-traumatic stress disorder. The study exposed volunteers to disturbing imagery and, for some, allowed them to play the game after. For those that played the game, stress levels reduced and they suffered from fewer flashbacks of the disturbing imagery.So, make more time in your busy life to play some games. It's good for you!%Gallery-18122%[Via /.]
Wii Points up for grabs in Tetris Party tournaments
Those online Tetris Party tournaments won't just enhance your fearsome internet reputation -- they'll also offer Wii Points as prizes, a pretty awesome way of keeping player interest high. The first tournament kicks off December 1st, and contains four rounds, each featuring one of Tetris Party's eighteen variations. After you complete a round, the game will give you a rank and confirmation code, which you can register at the official Tetris Party tournament site. Perform strongly over all four rounds, and you could win!Five hundred prizes are up for grabs (though how many points will be given away isn't known), and we're fairly sure this is a global contest -- there's no mention of regional restrictions in the press release. Skip past the break for start dates, end dates, and other details of the first tournament, then get practicing!%Gallery-18122%
VC Friday: Tetris Party drops in PAL regions
A port of casual PC title Home Sweet Home (succumb to your IKEA nesting instinct) and The Incredible Maze (succumb to possibly the worst game on WiiWare) would struggle to get noticed in most weeks, but on the day Tetris Party finally lands in Europe and Australia? Poor things don't stand a chance, cos' there ain't no party like a Tetris Party! Tetris Party -- WiiWare -- 1200 Nintendo Points Home Sweet Home -- WiiWare -- 1000 Nintendo Points The Incredible Maze -- WiiWare -- 500 Nintendo Points %Gallery-18122%
Wii Fanboy Review: Tetris Party
Tetris Party on WiiWare is classic Tetris action. If you're expecting some kind of re-imagining or complete overhaul to the classic game, then you won't find it. What you will find is a very competent installment in the series, complete with several fun and exciting single-player modes and a very streamlined approach to playing online. If you're a fan of Tetris, then you're going to like what's here in Tetris Party.%Gallery-18122%
Retail and download releases for the week of October 20th
It's a pretty big week for releases. On top of plenty of games available at retail, there's a couple of imports available on the Virtual Console, as well as one awaited WiiWare release (can you guess what it is?). Head past the break and start thinking about cracking open that piggy bank.%Gallery-18122%
Tetris Party tournaments commence December 1st [update]
Tetris Party only reaches the North American WiiWare service today, but already Hudson has started building hype by asking us to bring it in a bunch of tournaments based on the game.Things kick off on December 1st, when the first of four separate contests will begin, but don't just think being nimble at classic Tetris is good enough -- any of Tetris Party's 18 modes could feature in these, which could be bad news for those not equipped with a Balance Board. No word on prizes yet, though something rare and very limited edition-esque would be lovely thanks, Hudson.Update 1: A Hudson press release just revealed Tetris Party would drop in Europe and Australia this Friday!%Gallery-18122%[Via WiiWare World]
The Incredible Maze has a Tetris Party on WiiWare
Let's not waste time with pleasantries, dear reader. It's Monday, there's WiiWare, this is it:Tetris Party (Tetris Online, Inc., 1-6 players, 1,200 Wii Points) -- The list of "Types of Party Invitations We Would Decline" is surprisingly short. There's "murder party," "fat person key party," and "Tetris party." That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that we would decline a game based on the subject. Especially when, like this one, it looks really solid.The Incredible Maze (Digital Leisure Inc., 1 player, 500 Wii Points): According to Nintendo, you navigate mazes in this game with the Wiimote or, if you prefer, the Balance Board. We say "according to Nintendo" because after looking at these actual, real screenshots, we refuse to believe this is being released for a console made in the last ten years.
VC Tuesday: Party time! Excellent!
How can the Wii have been in stores for two years without a Tetris game? At least Hudson is compensating for the lack of the staple video game with one that is both awesome-looking and cheap. It's being joined on WiiWare by a cheapo darts game and Brain Challenge -- which was actually pretty good on the DS. On the Virtual Console, a super old sidescroller from Sunsoft that looks like a slowed-down, more awkward Legend of Kage, and a totally cute Taito classic!Virtual Console releases: Kanshakudama Nage Kantarou no Toukaidou Gojuusan Tsugi (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) The New Zealand Story (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points) WiiWare releases: Darts Wii (1-4 players, 500 Wii Points) Brain Challenge (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points) Tetris Party (1-6 players, 1,200 Wii Points) %Gallery-18122%
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%
Joystiq hands-on: Tetris Party (WiiWare)
We've soaked up Tetris on countless platforms. There's a balance to strike between versions that retain enough of the core game to be authentically Tetris, and adding new puzzle elements. Tetris Party for WiiWare nails this demand, providing about a dozen game modes, many of which, are all-new. Call it "yet another Tetris?" Maybe. But this is a Tetris on which we'll gladly spend 1,200 Wii points with its release sometime this month.Nintendo claims there are 18 modes, 10 of which are new, but we only agree technically; the company counts some modes twice as single- and multi-player games. (Most modes support up to four players on one system, and a few work with up to six online.) We tore into as many as we could before overloading like a kid on a Halloween sugar-high. Here's how they stand up.%Gallery-33744%
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
Wii Warm Up: Party favor
Tetris Party is on the way to WiiWare! (As of the writing of this post, Nintendo hasn't sent out the Wii Shop updates, so it might even be out today, in which case Tetris Party is on WiiWare!)Tetris has been around for a while, and it's changed in tiny, tiny ways. Except for a few new rules for nerds, it's still basically the same game it was when Alexey Pazhitnov was puttering around with it in his spare time. Tetris Party has some variant modes like the "Shadow" puzzle mode, but you're still dropping the same seven shapes into the same 10-block-wide field.Has Tetris held up? Will you be ready to go back to the well (though not for Welltris) when Party hits? Ah, of course you will, so let's just talk about how amazingly wonderful Tetris continues to be!%Gallery-18122%
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%
Tetris Party is Tetris crossed with other stuff
Tetris has had its udders suckled dry down the years, with innumerable spin-offs, follow-ups, and twists on the original formula all taking their turn on its now-withered teat. Tetris DS remains, for this blogger, the definitive Tetris experience, but the Balance Board-compatible Tetris Party is looking extremely promising on the evidence of these first videos.Developer Hudson seems to be drawing inspiration from other games to make dropping blocks feel fresh again -- "Shadow" mode (above) is essentially Tetris mixed with NEVES, while "Climb" mode (in the video after the break) is a bit like what would happen if Tetris got jiggy with Lemmings (or, as this is a Nintendo site, Mario vs. Donkey Kong). It works as well -- both of these modes look engaging and fun!It's worth mentioning that the game contains classic, vanilla Tetris, and there's a video of that after the break also. You know, in case you've never seen Tetris before. Which would just be odd.%Gallery-18122%
Alien Crush Returns to Australia
PAL regions got the first official release of the amazing pinball game Alien Crush just last year via the Virtual Console. According to the OFLC, the new WiiWare version is Australia-bound as well. Not to be too presumptuous, but this suggests a worldwide release as well. We never doubted that Hudson would make Alien Crush Returns available around the world, but it's nice to have some evidence. Also rated: Tetris Party and something called Pit Crew Panic, another Hudson Wii game. We have no idea what that is -- some kind of racing-related thing, sure, but ... could it really be a whole game about replacing tires and such? %Gallery-19346% [Via Siliconera]
New info on Tetris Party's game modes
Aside from learning about Balance Board support and when the game would be releasing on WiiWare, we haven't heard much about what's in the Tetris Party game. Well, other than Tetris. We all pretty much know what's going on with that.We now have some idea as to what gamers should expect from the title's many modes of play, though. There will be 18 different modes of play, with 10 of them supposedly being never-before-seen variations of single and multiplayer Tetris. Online modes will be titled World Battle and Friend Battle, where up to six players can take part in play simultaneously. Aside from all of that, other modes were mentioned, including Stage Racer, Wii Balance Board Tetris Marathon, Field Climber, and Duel Space modes. We don't have any specific info on those, though, so we'll just have to wait until the game releases to spend some quality time with those modes.%Gallery-18122%
Tetris Party to rock WiiWare this fall, utilizes Balance Board
We just received a press release concerning upcoming Tetris Party. It's set to grace WiiWare this fall, meaning that North American gamers will be able to pick up the title this year and not later, as we were fully expecting. Other than that, the press release doesn't offer us much else to go on.Oh, wait, yes it does! The game will include "modes that utilize the unique point-and-shoot capabilities of the Wii Remote." But, the fun doesn't stop there. The game will also support "the recently released Wii Balance Board." Yes, you just read that correctly. The rumor is true. How it will be utilized is anyone's guess at this point, however.Also, an official site has launched for the game, but it isn't too full of content right now. %Gallery-18122%[Via press release]
