WiiSports
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Craptacular attachments for Wiimote
We mused about the subject a few months back, and now PEGA's delivering with a set of cheap plastic Wiimote attachments. For ¥2,780 (about $23), suckers can preorder the set, which includes a mock golf club, baseball bat, and tennis racket (all measuring approximately 16 inches in length). At that length (and without much weight), the attachments won't add much to the sense of realism; though they will increase the risk of actually striking someone or something while playing Wii Sports. No thanks.See also: Wii-eel attachment looks rather un-wii-ldy
Wii Warm Up: What's driving the Wii's success?
It's safe to say that the Wii has been a rousing success despite rumblings about the graphics and system capabilities. But what's behind the crazy demand for our favorite new console? It can't just be the controller -- whether you think it's a little gimmicky or a real innovation, the Wiimote isn't the only reason behind the already high sales. So what effect are the other factors, like price and the inclusion of Wii Sports, having on demand? How much is the "DS effect" driving sales? Tell us what you think and what your experiences have been with other people who've joined in on the Wii craze.
Active gaming burns more calories, coordination still a concern
A recent Mayo Clinic study may indicate that kids burn significantly more calories while playing active games (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 2, Wii Sports) than while engaged in sit-down games. That this conclusion seems obvious is part of the problem.Parents may now be more content than ever to plop their kids in front of the TV if they perceive that a few hours of active gaming will substitute for necessary exercise. Even if kids, on average, burn twice as many calories while on the dancepad than while button-smashing a gamepad, they're still simply engaged in virtual activity. Wii Sports might be all the rage but "touching a virtual ball is not the same thing as catching a real ball," warns Active Healthy Kids Canada director of development Jennifer Cowie Bonne, "You need those types of [real life] fundamental skills to build a foundation for a lifelong involvement in other types of physical activity." You wouldn't want Junior to grow up throwing baseballs like a pansy, would you?
Facing the onset of ennuii
Though you may have already discovered this for yourself, it's generally impossible to emulate the men and women you see flailing about in Wii commercials. They're far too energetic, suspiciously excited and quite possibly, entirely synthetic. They're robots, okay? This chap in the video, on the other hand, is clearly human. Watch as his Wii Tennis enthusiasm gradually declines and then reclines into an armchair of lethargy. Sweeping social statement regarding humanity at large, or an amusing jab at our favorite waggle machine? Either way, that's a brilliant Wii pun. We would have claimed it we weren't so damn tired.[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
The progression of ennui(i)
Has your Wii Sports experience gone from exciting to stale? Apparently that's the case for some, as is exhibited in the amusing video embedded after the jump. So tell us -- are you still bouncing around all willy-nilly, or have you figured out that you can just as easily Wii while slumped on the couch with a beer in one hand?
Rollin' a perfect game in Wii Sports: Bowling
var digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/videos_gaming/Rollin_a_perfect_game_in_Wii_Sports_Bowling'; In the embedded video, available past the jump, we see one avid Wii Sports player find a perfect rhythm and spot to fling balls down the lane. So perfect, in fact, that he bowled a perfect game! It's probably not the first time someone has rolled a perfect game in Wii Sports: Bowling, but it is damn impressive nonetheless.See also: Wii Sports: Bowling controls taken for a ride New Wii Sports: Bowling video
Everybody's doing it: Wii workouts
We've run across a couple of bloggers taking on Wii Sports workout regimens and we must say that it does sound appealing. It's funny -- preWii, people were complaining about the potentially tiring effect of playing for hours, and now other people are looking to maximize that very effect. We must say that a few rounds of boxing or tennis are pretty nice after a long day at the computer. What's your take on it? Think that Wii Sports can have any effect on a gamer's physique?
Wii Sports, now with tools
Now you can use tools when bashing friends, family, or furniture with your Wiimote. Oh, and make your Wii Sports experience a little more realistic, too, but surely that's secondary to the imminent destruction these bad boys are going to bring about. The above set seems like a bargain at $22 for a bat, racket, and club extension, but if you're sending a remote flying across the room, we hate to think of the damage these things could cause. Please remember to Wii with caution.[Via Engadget]
Wii Sports Pack offers trio of Wiimote extensions
In what's likely to go down as the most heavily accessorized (and harmful) controller ever, Nintendo's Wiimote sure is garnering a lot of attention from accessory makers. Sure, those Wii Gloves may keep butterfinger disasters from ever occurring, but they really don't give you any sort of competitive advantage when throwing down in Wii Sports. While we knew JoyTech was planning its own barrage of controller add-ons, it looks like Brando is offering up a sweet trio of Wiimote extensions to presumably improve your Wii Sports play. For just $22, you'll get a tennis racket, golf grip, and a baseball bat, which could arguably pull double duty as a sword in Red Steel. Of course, you'll still need to pick up that foam donut separately (or bundled in with another game) for the ultimate Excite Truck experience, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.
Joystiq's Game of the Year
Gears of War (Xbox 360)What the hell just happened? Did we honestly pick Gears of War as the best game of 2006? No, that can't be. The plan was to throw juvenile tantrums and to violently thrash against the machine! To blind the world with an elitist badge and proclaim an innate resistance against games that are both popular and heavily marketed! It's a shooter, for Allard's sake. You shoot things. With guns.The senseless violence is but one reason to look away from the screen in disgust. The other, as you may have concluded already, is the appalling state of the game's graphics. They make Pong look like an M.C. Escher painting being displayed in a room pumped full of hallucinogenic gas. If you can even discern your pixelated soldier from the flat environment, you'll note how you get repeatedly punished for running blindly into a hail of bullets and neglecting to take "cover." Not only is this completely unrealistic and contrary to modern warfare, it's a needless refinement to a bizarre, self-preservation concept in the genre. See, it's not even a very good shooter. The complete lack of immersion and excitement carries over into the game's terrible online cooperative mode. Some idiot on your friends list can rudely jump into your game at any point and then proceed to get in your way at every available turn. Multiplayer deathmatch isn't any better, forcing you to work with 3 other buffoons (who can't even circle-strafe or jump) if you hope to succeed. Add a forgettable MIDI soundtrack, poor pacing and a complete failure to emulate an action film to your considerations, and you become perfectly equipped to answer the pertinent question. Game of the year? Obviously not.The runners-up are presented (in order) after the break.
Friday video: Behold the future
We can't decide if we like this future or not, but it's already here, so we better make up our minds. Behold: legions of videos infesting YouTube, videos of people getting their Wii on. At first it was only a few ... and now it's spreading, like a virus, inundating every aspect of the World Wide Intar Wub! Wii videos are so the new cat pictures. Next week? Wii videos that feature cats. Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but videos get linked everywhere. And yes, we shamelessly stole the graphic from Warren Ellis.
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?
AP: Wii 'gamers gone wild'
CNN posts an AP story about Wii "gamers gone wild" -- no, not the good kind of wild going -- hyping the Wii accident-buzz in the mainstream media. The article is light in tone and suggests that the injury murmurs on the internet may be generating positive Wii press despite the occasional, horribly sickening knee injury. Our favorite part of the story is the bullet point header for those with short attention spans. The first point, "Controllers go flying, sometimes poke holes in TVs," gets a gold star for mixing casual writing with a sensational subject.
Wii Tennis destroys girl's knee
No doubt growing tired of assaulting the smiling, unprotected face of its owner, the Wii console now turns its cataclysmic death beam to more useful parts of the human anatomy. One unlucky lady discovered this during a recent session of Wii Sports Tennis when her knee suddenly ceased functioning in a natural way. According to the testimony on Wii Have A Problem, the destructive console conspired with the high heels she was wearing at the time and ultimately brought her down to her dislocated knee.With the inclusion of an additional photo of paramedics surrounding the injured player, we once again have to consider the possibility of this being a fake injury (and one that could just as easily have occurred in a Dance Dance Revolution session). Perhaps it's time for our savvy readers to confirm or debunk this one. What say you?
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.
Here come the newbs
Greg Miller of the Columbia Daily Tribune has a problem -- people who don't play video games are suddenly kicking his ass all around Wii Sports, and he's not happy about it. And now his mom is buying a Wii for herself. Schooling Greg on his own console just wasn't enough anymore.Is he alone? Since my own mother is busily eyeballing eBay and wondering if $400 is too much to pay for the Wii she can't ever seem to catch at Target (they sell out in moments), we're gonna go with no. Wii fever is overtaking nongamers everywhere! Have you been affected? Has your grandmother added "pwn" to her vocabulary? Are you still stuck in the water temple on Twilight Princess because you can't get to your Wii? We wanna hear about it.[Thanks, Barb!]
Iwata and Miyamoto comment on wrist strap concerns
var digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/gaming_news/Iwata_and_Miyamoto_comment_on_wrist_strap_concerns'; With all of the complaints about the Wiimote turning into a deadly weapon, destroying television sets and causing some to seek unorthodox solutions, Nintendo has taken notice and sent out an official statement informing players how to properly use the Wiimote. Turns out, Iwata and Miyamoto think the whole wrist strap portion of the dilemma is being blown way out of proportion, citing that gamers are just getting way more excited with the console than the company had initially thought: "Of course before the launch of the Wii hardware Nintendo had a number of tests on the durability of everything including the strap," Iwata told reporters in Japan. "But our understanding right now is that even beyond our expectations people are becoming more and more excited playing with the Wii."Nintendo knows how to spin things, eh? With a console as interactive as the Wii, there isn't much chance that Nintendo didn't at least consider the long play sessions and excitement gamers would express when playing the console. Miyamoto adds that the company is now pursuing a way to inform gamers how to play, and be the best, without being so excited as to throw the Wiimote or cause any kind of collateral damage during the experience:"We are looking into the situation to see if there are additional methods to encourage people to kind of calm down so they would never throw away the controller itself."
Nintendo concerned with bad Wiimote use, issue instructions
The above message comes direct from Nintendo, following the many reported injuries and catastrophes that have been the result of long gameplay sessions. It's OK, we understand how it goes; playing Wii Sports can be vigorous and we've been guilty, on many an occasion, of perhaps getting a little too into it. And where we'd normally snicker at emails such as these, this one, we feel, is warranted.
Wii Sports: Bowling controls taken for a ride
In the embedded video, which is brought to us courtesy of Epileptic Gaming in an attempt to debunk statements made by IGN claiming that "skill is a major factor and if you're good, you will bowl strikes; if you're not so good, you'll be much more prone to hit the gutter." The video proves that IGN overstated things a bit and the game doesn't rely on your skills as a real life bowler to dictate skill in-game.
Wii Sports tricks
Wii Sports may be the sleeper hit of the Wii launch; this little game's depth and options keep impressing us. GameFAQs has even been tabulating tricks and cheat codes for this pack-in.While you may discover many of the tricks on your own -- like our occasional bowling ball toss in reverse -- many of the techniques add simple new features to the game. For example, hold the direction pad when beginning a bowling game to change your ball's color. Other tricks change the tennis court color and pitch baseballs under-hand, while tips help score that elusive 91-pin strike.[Via digg]
