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And the GDC Award nominees are ...
We expect The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess to get nominated for awards. It's a beautiful entry in a long-running series known for racking up the awards. What is surprising today is that while Twilight Princess received its due attention, it wasn't Nintendo's star when the Game Developers Choice Award nominees were announced -- Wii Sports was. Just a few months ago, people were calling it a "trumped-up demo" and decrying the fact that this "minigame" was going to be marketed as a full game. Then, as a pack-in, some wanted to take a pass on it in favor of a cheaper price. Who'd have thought that months later, Wii Sports would emerge as a powerhouse and continue to dominate the spotlight? Now that everyone's had some time to be sporty in the living room -- and realize the depth of Wii Sports -- we wonder if that attitude's changed. Certainly someone thinks it's worthy of attention.Twilight Princess is nominated in the Best Game and Writing categories; Wii Sports is up for three awards: Best Game, Technology, and Game Design.
Wii Power Gloves? Nope.
What's more useless: plastic shove-on attachments or boxing gloves with Wiimote pockets? We suppose those attachments are, but these 'un-official' Wii boxing gloves rank among the lamest of 3rd-party peripherals.Maybe if you have a tendency to fling your Wiimote the gloves are $22 well spent; then again, Wii Sports' boxing requires players to hold the Wiimote vertically. You won't be punching with these gloves on; you'll be knocking on doors. Awkward.A better Wii "Power Glove": Wii Remote Power Glove Hack[Via VideoGamesBlogger]
Wii Fanboy Contest: Win the Wii Sports Pack
Now that you've seen them in action, we want to give one reader their very own Wii Sports Pack! Conduct your own playtests. Sneak up on friends with the bat for a little nefarious fun. Break them out during parties and take bets on who shatters the ceiling fan lights. The fun never stops!It's not gonna be as easy as just waltzing in here and asking for them, however. You're going to need to inspire us into letting go of the goods. We're not feeling too motivated here, so what we need is for you to make a (de)motivational poster inspired by Brando's Wii Sports Pack. The tools you need are tucked away after the jump.
Off the charts in Wii Sports [update 1]
Last week, we bragged chatted about our Wii Sports accomplishments, and suddenly our e-mail blew up with stories of folks screaming off the charts in their favorite sports. Here we were, feeling good about being mid-range pro in tennis, and there are folks with rankings that make us feel like we might just be the noobiest noobs who've never noobed.We'll be comforting ourselves with chocolate while you check out the pics.[Update 1: Fixing an error both heinous and gratuitous.]
Friday Video: A little friendly competition
What with all this noise about Wii parties, it seemed fitting to turn this week's spotlight on a video that showcases just that sort of thing -- friends getting together and gently kicking each others' asses, Wii style. Sure, it's nothing new to get together with friends and play video games. We've been doing it for years, and if you're here, it's likely that you are, too. But this deal with everyone scheming on our Wii, that's new. The system has become the focus of so many gatherings of gamers that today's video just seemed, well, familiar. Check it out after the jump. If any of you guys are taking Wii footage of your friends and family as well, let us know! We'd love to feature entertaining videos made by the members of our own community.
Nvidia: saying graphics don't matter is 'nonsense'
"They're talking nonsense. It's ridiculous to say that graphics don't matter." Those are the words of Nvidia's VP of content, Roy Taylor, in response to those that don't believe graphics are important -- Nintendo presumably included. Of course, since Nvidia and graphics technology are largely synonymous with each other, it would have been ludicrous to expect him to say anything else (Our chips totally don't matter!) in his interview with Next Generation. "That's like saying, 'The quality of my TV screen doesn't matter.' Oh really? So then in that case, you can go watch 24 in black-and-white on a seven-inch screen."The counter-argument to be made here is obviously that the sentiment shared by many gamers and Nintendo doesn't imply that we'd be happy to regress to terrible graphics. Instead, their stance has been that graphics have reached a "good enough" level and can no longer significantly enhance gameplay. The "24 in black-and-white on a seven-inch screen" argument doesn't quite make sense, as the primary qualities of the show wouldn't be particularly affected by switching to a 1080p television. Perhaps a better analogy would have Jack Bauer replaced by an angry, but not entirely believable sock puppet. Taylor goes on to say that graphics can greatly improve in-game emotion, with technology aiding in creating detailed facial expressions and realistic movement. This is valid point, though it requires consideration of what experience the game is trying to convey. A title like Gears of War is absolutely made more fun by its intense and involving cinematic presentation, whereas a game like Wii Sports is less dependent on seamless worlds and nuanced characters. Perhaps a compromise can be reached by saying, "Graphics should be good enough for the intended gameplay."
Conan takes on Serena in Wii Tennis
What should you do when you have a former World Number 1 ranked tennis player on your late night talk show? Challenge her to Wii Tennis, of course!That's what Conan O'Brien decided to do last night when he had Serena Williams on as a guest. We caution the little ones to avoid direct eye contact with O'Brien's scantily-clad body, as the sheer paleness reflects light and can blind you. Look closely and you'll see that the production team made Miis of the host and guest.We won't give away the final score, but it was a close game. Video embedded after the break.[Thanks, Sam]
Wii Warm Up: Wii Sports accomplishments
We know you guys still like to get in there with the racket or the boxing gloves -- you told us -- so we're dying to know about all the bragging rights you can claim in Wii Sports. Are you struggling to just get bronze medals, or are you maybe rolling in the platinum? Have you gone pro? What's the state of your Wii Sports habit?
Wii Sports: Boxing knock-out glitch (or, breakdancing into submission)
One of the funnier glitches we've seen, the embedded video of a rather odd knock-out in Wii Sports: Boxing should elicit at least a chuckle. Upon catching one to the chin, the computer-controlled opponent hits the ground and spins on his head for a good deal of time. Check out the video, which has been embedded past the post break.[Via Infendo]
Today's hottest game video: Wii Boxing beat-down [update 1]
Today's most-watched YouTube game video shows a violent -- and possibly deadly -- end of a Wii Sports boxing match. (Who are we kidding? Nintendo made sure to show the loser standing up in the far corner after each bout, so surely no Miis get too hurt.)After the break, watch a fierce KO-punch that results in a near-somersault by the opposing player. Then watch it again in slow motion.[Update 1: We send a big nod (and the wish to never meet in a Wii Boxing ring) to The1Qwerty who created the video. Sorry we missed mentioning you when first linking the video from YouTube.]
Wii Fanboy Review: Brando Wii Sports Pack
When we first learned of Brando's Wii Sports accessories, we knew it was our civic duty to get our hands on a set in the name of you, the readers. Because we're here for you. We're BFF. And, well ... they just looked like fun. So we pleaded and cried, and Brando hooked us up. The Sports Pack arrived quickly, more quickly than we expected, in fact. They were then put through a rigorous testing process, and now that we're the world's foremost experts* on these new accessories, we're gonna let you in on everything we learned. Check out the full review, along with loads of pictures, after the jump. *This is a shameless lie.
WRUP: what's your score? edition
One of our favorite activities every weekend is to get the group together and play Wii Sports: Bowling. We tried to play Elebits, but the fact that the first player controls the camera is just too cheap. So, we get some beers and bowl for a couple of hours. It's pretty much the single greatest thing this blogger looks forward to every week. This got us to thinking about scores. See, our high score is 217 and we were wondering what your high score in bowling was. Perhaps you bowled a perfect game?Aside from that, what will you be playing this weekend?Previous posts: what were you playing?
Interactive Achievement Awards nominees announced, Gears in the lead
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced the nominations for the 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Though Gears of War has yet to make an acquaintance with that irrelevant temptress, Emmy, it stands a very good chance of winning a statuette that actually matters -- it's been nominated in ten different categories, including Console Game of the Year, Action / Adventure Game of the Year, and Overall Game of the Year. The AIAS (probably not pronounced "Ahyeehuss") also fancies The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, each garnering six nominations. These, along with Guitar Hero II and Wii Sports complete the list of classy nominees in the Overall Game of the Year category. The full list of nominees is available on the official Ahyeehuss website.[Via GameDaily BIZ]See also: Joystiq's Game of the Year
DIY game case replacement covers
Does that Wii Sports' generic disc sleeve get your blood boiling? Has it steadily climbed your list of annoyances -- sticking out like some cheap freebie demo disc in your otherwise tidy display case? Dude, then you needs to check out CDCovers.cc. The site maintains a growing archive of video game cover art.With a little time and care (and cash), you'll have crafted an authentic Wii Sports game case. A viable solution for the true connoisseur.[Thanks, Jonah]See also: A much better Wii Sports DVD case
Wii Warm Up: Still getting in the game?
So, are you still playing Wii Sports? We don't just mean with your family members or nongamer friends -- after all, now you have Wario Ware to throw into that mix. No, we mean just you, alone with a racket Wiimote, plugging away for that platinum medal in Target Practice. Personally, it's still a big favorite in this blogger's house, both for multi- and single player action. It seems an appropriate question of the day, so tell us -- are you still breaking out the Wii Sports once or twice a week (or even more)?
Wii Sports Experiment sheds nine pounds
While some folks are struggling just to stay out of the hospital when getting too amped up playing their Wii, Mickey DeLorenzo, a 25-year-old living in Philadelphia, decided to meld exercise and gaming together and further substantiate the most obvious research study of the year. His Wii Sports Experiment started in December of last year and ran for six whole weeks, and while he sought to keep his eating habits constant, he devoted 30 minutes per day to Wii Sports and monitored his weight, BMI, calories burned per session, body fat percentage, heart rate, and physical soreness. Mickey started out at 182 pounds, and after a month and a half of Wii workouts, whittled his weight down to 172 pounds, which he found quite amazing considering that this was the first substantial loss he had attained in over two years, and he never even cut back on the Eat 'N Park cookies (or similar). Moreover, according to The American Council on Exercise, he went from the "acceptable" category to the "fitness" category, and seemed to gain a huge boost of self-esteem in the process. So if the Subway diet just doesn't mesh with your taste buds, and you're desperate to find an excuse to game it up instead of going for a jog, be sure to hit the read link for all the encouragement you'd ever need, and click on through for a bit of footage from the entire process.[Via SMH]
Joystiq hands-on: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Wii)
Wii Sports scored a spot among our favorite games of 2006 because of its innovation and motion-tastic controls. But we'd still rather play in-depth, stand-alone versions of the pack-in sports; Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is one of the first to answer the stand-alone challenge. I recently got to swing Tiger's virtual driver -- and putter -- with the Wii game, schedule for mid-March release.Wii Sports Golf has grown on me as I've played it more. But the bundled title has many drawbacks, like quirky club control, lack of slice sensing, and an inability to spin the ball. As I would expect from EA's stand-alone title, Tiger Woods bests Wii Sports in all of those areas -- with a few caveats. While I only got a short session with Tiger Woods and I'm only casually a golf game fan, I'm looking forward to a golf game for the first time since, well, ever.
Hole in One in Wii Sports: Golf
We're sure others have successfully hit a hole in one in Wii Sports: Golf, but for us the idea of achieving such an immaculate shot is such an impossible goal as to not even exist. Like some kind of mythical beast, we cannot fathom it being possible to live, breath and enjoy life in the way we do. That's why this video is so priceless to us. It's like the first ever real picture of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.As always, the video has been embedded past the post break.
Stuff magazine promotes Wii-kini sports
In a move that one would expect from the folks at Stuff magazine, they decided that Wii Sports: Bowling just wasn't interesting enough. Their solution? Get a hot chick in a bikini to play it and film the whole thing, obviously! Keep in mind that some employers could consider this video NSFW, so watch the embedded video past the post break at your own risk.
Wii workouts really do work it out
Six weeks ago, the big cheese over at WiiNintendo.net decided to embark on an experiment in becoming a smaller cheese via the playing of Wii Sports. No other changes -- no altering his (holiday) diet, no sneaky extra exercise, just his trusty Wiimote and nunchuk, a dream, and a lot of heart. Oh, and sometimes his lady.Dramatics aside (the Rocky-inspired picture brings it out), the results of the experiment are in and things are looking good for gamers who like to get in the game with the pack-in. Tennis and boxing are big calorie burners, and playing 30 minutes of Wii Sports per day resulted in a loss of nine pounds, 2% body fat, and a visible reduction in body size. Everything is outlined fully, and there's even a snappy video or two to break the monotony of stats. We would have liked to see a food log along with the experiment; after all, one might subconsciously eat less during such a test, or better yet, begin to eat less as normal day-to-day activity increases. But this is unlikely to be the last such experiment we'll see, so maybe next time. In the meantime, shouldn't you be rocking out with some tennis?[Thanks, Josh!]
