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Wii Warm Up: Tendencies
The sporting world is notorious for superstitious tendencies and odd behavior. Players always have the same meal preceding a game; they won't cut their hair until they lose; they'll wear the same jock str ... egh, never mind. The point is, despite overwhelming scientific evidence, people still continue to engage in silly habits for luck and good fortune.As a gamer, do you have any particular habits before tournaments? Barring competitive play, are there any strange habits you have while gaming in general? Some of us here tend to spin the Wiimote around our fingers when we perform something of note, and others blow on the DVD before insertion into the Wii, harkening back to the NES days. Man, we're weird.
Wii Warm Up: 100 games
This week bears witness to the 100th game released on the Virtual Console. Doesn't it seem strange that we've already reached such a milestone? While not everything about the Virtual Console can be perfect for everyone, of course, we must say that we're pleased that they've held to such a regular schedule of releases. If there's nothing for you in any given week, you've only to wait for the next. So now that we've reached this milestone, how do you feel about the Virtual Console so far?
Wii Warm Up: Daytonaaaaaaaaaa
Doot do doot do doot do doot do DOOOT DOOOOOOOOOOO! Good or bad awesome, the theme to Daytona USA is extremely memorable. So memorable, that it defines not only arcade racing, but also sort of defines the entire Sega Saturn platform (for us anyway, even despite the game being nowhere near arcade perfect). We haven't found any music in a Wii game that does the same thing. In fact, there doesn't seem to be any standout music in a Wii game so far, except for maybe the pleasant little jingle in the Everybody Votes Channel, which kind of sounds like something from Super Monkey Ball 2. What do you think? Do you know of any Wii games with timeless music? Let's go away to the comments!
Wii Warm Up: The Okami rumors are back
Just when you thought it was safe to stop hoping for an Okami port on the Wii, the rumors are back. Oh, not necessarily because anything new happened, except for folks apologizing for porting games to the Wii instead of making new content, but just because Stephen Munn at Aeropause thinks that, despite Capcom's loose denial of the possibility of a Wii Okami, the time is ripe. Your thoughts?
Wii Warm Up: Friend code rumor fest
What's the deal with friend codes on the Wii? In the last week or so, we've seen a flurry of rumors and responses-to-rumors, and we don't even know if the system for Mario Strikers Charged will set the standard for the rest of the Wii's WiFi future. Are friend codes Mii specific? Some say yes, but there's also word that the good news about Mii-based codes may be untrue and the result of a mistranslation. We've talked at length about WiFi and the future of Wii online before, but in light of all these recent developments, we can't resist asking what you think.
Wii Warm Up: On rails
With all this talk of a possible remake (can we get a sequel?) of Killer 7, we find ourselves once again dealing with the idea of games on rails. It seems to be one of those things gamers either love or hate -- never something that's just okay. But we've got to ask: where do you stand? Do you feel differently about, say, Sonic and the Secret Rings being on rails than you do about games that are essentially on-rails shooters?
Wii Warm Up: Rumors are fun
We would put our journalistic integrity at risk by making a full-fledged post out of this stuff. Seriously, check the link: "confirmed reports" of Brawl and Galaxy release dates, new Mario Kart and Zelda for the Wii, a new original IP similar to Final Fantasy VII ... it's a Nintendo fan's wet dream. While we can't completely discount the fact that it's real, being constantly exposed to this drivel has to make one just a bit jaded.Rumors are fun, there's no doubt ... even if we know it's fake, it's nice to imagine. But who writes this stuff? What kind of odd psychological thrill do they receive, and why are Nintendo fans so willing to ignore the obvious and go along with it? Some of it is impressive (see the Nintendo On video), but it seems that Nintendo is eighteen times more susceptible to ridiculous rumor-mongering than the nearest competitor. Ah well ... it's kinda fun ... we guess. Your thoughts?
Wii Warm Up: How accurate is your Mii?
We're going to assume that everyone has made at least one Mii in their own image. Sure, we get creative, but we're sure everyone starts with the source material with which they're most familiar: themselves.So, were you able to represent yourself well? When people see your Mii, do they instantly recognize it as you? Or are you too constrained by a lack of options? Our personal Mii is eerily accurate, to the point where it would be Uncanny Valley territory if it, you know, had arms.Seen here: not us.
Wii Warm Up: Super Smash Cho Aniki?
A GoNintendo reader was looking very critically at the new Gooey Bomb item in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and discovered what is absolutely the origin of the item. And now that we've seen them together, it's so obvious that the Gooey Bomb is based on the Holy Protein from Cho Aniki Seinaru Protein Densetsu.You know, except it sticks to people and blows up instead of being orbited by two beefy dudes in Speedos, while shooting lasers. Too bad. If we were designing Smash Bros.-- okay, if I were designing Smash Bros. (I don't think I can speak for Wii Fanboy in this case) it would be heavy on Cho Aniki content.Now, something kind of looking like a thing from another game isn't strictly news, but Wii Warm Up is a discussion topic, and we can discuss whatever we feel like. And today we want to talk about the Cho Aniki series. So, if you've played any of the games, tell us why you loved them. If you haven't, go read about the series, then come back and express your shock.
Wii Warm Up: NMS excitement
Fresh from the Nintendo Media Summit, we've quite a few impressions of games coming out in the immediate future. Among them: Mario Party 8 Super Mario Strikers: Charged Big Brain Academy Pokemon Battle Revolution The Bigs Boogie My Word Coach Rayman: Raving Rabbids 2 We're most jazzed for Strikers, especially after reading such effulgent impressions from Penny Arcade. But which game shown at NMS excited you the most? If you were stuck on an island and could only have one game ... you know, assuming you had a Wii and a couple Wiimotes, and a nice TV ... maybe some nunchuks, oh, and the sensor bar, and I guess you'd need a standard 120 W outlet somewhere in the sand ... and a decent supply of food and water, or you wouldn't spend your time playing the Wii ... you know what, never mind.
Wii Warm Up: Safe for those with heart conditions
Everyone is expecting a massive flood of Nintendo megatons from the Nintendo Media Summit today (can you have a flood of megatons? Just go with it.) And, while we have a lot of great coverage of upcoming games to show you, there's nothing that could be called a "megaton." No exclusive new Mario Galaxy screens, no surprise game announcements, and no information about whatever the Wii download service is going to be.It wasn't as spanuuuund as we hoped it would be. We don't have an E3-level news day to give you. What we can offer you is a load of gameplay impressions of some highly anticipated new games. And delicious pie. And what's more, we can deliver on one of those offers!On the one hand, we're pleased with everything we have to look at, watch, and talk about. But on the other, no Metroid. No non-Striking Mario. No Smashing. How do you feel about a media event that ignores the biggest games in Nintendo's lineup?
Wii Warm Up: The slow reveal of Smash Bros.
After a ton of buildup, the Super Smash Bros. Brawl website began updating this week, which is exciting in principle. The actual content of the updates, however ... well, let's just say we had already guessed that Mario and Link will be in the game. Today we get a small amount of news about a new item-- a Gooey Bomb that sticks to opponents.The whole development cycle has been like this-- we've gotten very little information of any kind about this game except what we already know (for example, the rules of Smash Bros.) It's kind of a tease. Of course, this just serves to build up anticipation of the final product.Would you rather get a huge blowout of info all at once, or do you enjoy letting the excitement build as you're fed tiny little morsels of information one by one? If you don't feel like talking about that, we suppose we could talk about the Gooey Bomb. One warning, though-- we've heard enough about banning items from "serious play" for one lifetime.
Wii Warm Up: When you just can't take any more Dragonball
Don't get us wrong, we used to like Dragonball Z. When we were, like, twelve. But with the announcement of yet another DBZ game coming to the Wii, we can't help but think of all the other deserving anime franchises that could use the gaming treatment. The import Naruto titles on the 'Cube were spectacular, and we hear that the Bleach and Full Metal Alchemist titles aren't half bad.You guys probably watch more anime than us, so which series, no matter how obscure, would you have make its way to the Wii? How about Read or Die, which could make very interesting use of the Wiimote for the various paper-based powers, or maybe Hikaru no Go, as a cool boardgame/RPG tandem title? Come forth, otaku, we summon thee!
Wii Warm Up: But what about five dollars?
Do you ever get the urge to put, say, just outright buy an NES game on the Virtual Console without leaving extra money lying around on your Wii in the form of points? If so, too bad. Suffer.There's a lot to love about the Virtual Console (we've downloaded several of the reasons), but the system for adding points is not one of them. Does it bother you that you must add funds in set increments? Is it time for everyone to get away from these point systems and buying blocks and just let us perform direct dollar-for-dollar transactions? It's not like they're fooling us. Even if converting points-to-dollars required a complex mathematical formula, we'd be able to perform it lightning fast. After all, we're serious fans here. Or do you feel it's a non-issue? It's likely that we'll spend the points anyway. We did mention that we're serious fans, right?
Wii Warm Up: SSBB Countdown to end in two hours?
According to this thread about a Nintendo Power from the future, the Super Smash Bros. Brawl countdown will wind down two hours after this very post is published, so we figured that was just enough time to get our last minute speculation in under the wire. Major speculation seems to center around some pretty basic new content (images and wallpapers) or an all new day-by-day blog by Masahiro Sakurai. At this point, we really have to say that anything could happen when this countdown wraps up. What's your take?[Thanks, hvnlysoldr!]
Wii Warm Up: Raw Material
These chairs are made out of recycled Playstation 2 plastic. If it were any other console, we could make jokes about the Wii creating an instant surplus. Unfortunately for our ROFLs, the PS2 is still doing great, especially for a seven-year-old console! So we'll joke about the PS2's reliability instead-- these chairs were probably made from defective PS2's, which are one of the most abundant resources available. Ha!Our question is for the Bob Wii-las out there: what could you make out of Wiis? Hopefully something to punish us for making a Wii pun just now.[Via Wonderland]
Wii Warm Up: Take a closer look
In honor of our spankin' new featured gallery box -- just check it out over there to the right -- we thought we'd ask what game you're most looking forward to for the visuals alone. Whatever the reason, be it powerful pictures or the simple quality of omg-kawaii, we all usually have some game whose screenshots just make our hearts go pitter-pat. So what does it for you?We have to admit, games like Dewy's Adventure and MySims really get the ol' cuteness motor revved, but beyond the aww-factor, Super Mario Galaxy and No More Heroes get us hot and bothered. Let's hope they're both as awesome as they look!
Wii Warm Up: The question of a demo
We've got a question. Of course, the morning topics are typically a question, or at least include one, but seriously: do you think you'd be inclined to buy more VC games if there were demos, or fewer? Demos are nice, certainly, for games that we've never played before, but on the other hand, the VC is about nostalgia (at least, for now), and those old school favorites don't always stand the test of time. If you had a chance to play through a few minutes, maybe you'd realize that it's just not the same.So give it some thought and tell us what you think. And of course, some games remain awesome, regardless of demo or pricing, but we're not asking about those, but rather, all the rest.
Wii Warm Up: Channel surfing
Besides the disc channel, of course, what channel gets the most screen time on your Wii? Are you a Mii-maker, or do you prefer to browse from the comfort of the sofa when you're not gaming? Do you like to get into the voting, or are you constantly window shopping for new Virtual Console titles? We'd like to know how you spend your Wii time.
Wii Warm Up: Piracy
And not the cool kind, folks. The Wii has not been on the market for over half a year, and like any other shining beacon of all that is right in this world, it has been corrupted by peg-legged drunkards. Or software pirates in the Philippines, or something, whatever.Some of you have already chimed in on your thoughts regarding game piracy, but how do you feel toward the practice in general? TV shows, movies, games, music, and outrageously expensive software have all become essentially free, thanks to various file sharing methods across the web. Do you do it? Do you look down on others who do? How can you justify such things? We'll be honest, we pirate occasionally ... usually stuff we'd be unable to obtain via normal means, like anime (Death Note!). But never games. Pinky swear.And don't worry ... we won't give the MPAA your IP addresses.
