This Week In WiiDs – Issue Two – Motion Commotion

This Week In WiiDs – Issue Two – Motion Commotion

Hello and welcome to This Week In WiiDs, I’m Jack “The Jumpman” Smith and whether your at home, at work or trying to avoid the wrath of the League Of Gaming, this is the best place for news, views and discussion direct on the forum.

Welcome to Issue Two of This Week In WiiDs, published on August 1st 2008, your weekly round up of all things Nintendo while the podcast is on Hiatus. I aim to bring you everything you love about the show, plus a little extra straight to the forums every week for your viewing pleasure.

Question Of The Week

This weeks Question of the Week is from Daisy_Blonde:

If you could remake any PC game on the Wii, what would it be and how would use the Wiimote with it?

Thanks for the question Daisy_Blonde!

Hmm… good question (by which I mean no idea what to say). I think i’ll go for something old and something new. First, the old. Without a doubt it would have to be the Monkey Island series. They are without a doubt some of the best adventure games out there and a revamp with pointing controls would fit perfectly. It would be great to see the originals done to the standard of Monkey Island 3 and the Wii’s point and click interface was made for this sort of game. As for the new, I would love to see a version of Spore on the Wii. It’s possibly the onloy game i’m going to buy for my Mac so any other versions will be nice The Wiimote would be perfectly suited to twisting, turning, expanding and sticking pieces onto your creatures, while the mix of analogue and IR controls would suit the games movements perfectly. You could even have some one to one clubbing action

Thats my thoughts, but what about yours? Please reply to this weeks issue with what PC games you would want to see remade on the Wii.

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If you have a question of the week for This Week In WiiDs, please send me a PM and i’ll be sure to use it. Any unused questions will be forwarded to be used on the podcast. If you want to get in touch with the team, you can email them at Wiidspodcast@googlemail.com and if you register this link on your Wii we will send you a message to your Wii as soon as we are back on air as well as when further episodes are released. You can also check out the WiiDs blog at http://www.wiids-podcast.com for more news, views and discussion as well as the latest updates. You can also find us snooping around the forums at http://www.wiidsforum.com, so feel free to leave us a message or PM and we will make sure you are the first to know when we are back on air.

News

This weeks headlines are:

• Wiimote Takes Name, NCSX Gets Ass Kicked
• The League Of Gaming Vs R4
• Inmates See 18+ Games Locked Away
• Homebrew Hacks Open Up DVD Library

Wiimote Takes Name While Weemote Kicks Ass

Online retailer NCSX have been told they will face legal action if they continue to use the phrase “Wiimote” on their websites. The request has came from a small company known as Fobis Technologies who own the trademark for the Weemote, a special TV remote for children with parental control. Apparently the Wii Remotes nickname has been damaging their sales and they have had enough of it. The problem is though, that they cannot approach Nintendo about the issue as Nintendo only use Wii Remote in their documentation. NCSX have complied with Fobis’s demands and had the following to say:

Last week, we received a letter from a law firm representing a company which holds the “Weemote™” trademark. The letter stated that we were to stop using the term, “Wiimote” in our product descriptions and NCS Game Notes™ because our actions could possibly cause confusion in the marketplace. NCS respects trademarks and ©opyrights since we also own trademarks and copyrighted material so we’re obliging even though we think it’s a bit of a stretch… but whatever.From this day forth, the word “Wiimote” has been banished from N©S’ shopping sites and replaced with the word “Wii Remote™.” We (wasted) spent about an hour on Friday making sure the term “Wiimote” was waxed from the NCS shopping experience. We’ll endeavor to search and replace instances of the word “Wiimote” on our other websites by the end of the month. We wouldn’t want the “Weemote™” trademark holder to be supposedly damaged by our conjunction of the words “Wii” and “Remote.” We’re thinking of coining a new word – “Wii-rote” or maybe just “Wote.” As in, “Wave your Wote in the air. Wave it like ya just don’t care.

So what can we learn from this story? Fandom is more powerful than Nintendo, The little guys usually looses and NCSX are a bit of an arse

Source / Source

The League Of Gaming Vs R4

The R4 and other flash carts have always been a thorn in the Nintendo DS’s side, due to the majority of owners using them to illegally download games for free and until now it has generally been left alone by the games companies… But not anymore! Nintendo and 54 other software companies (including, Arc System Works, SNK, Capcom, Koei, Jaleco, Square Enix, Sega, Taito, Takara Tomy, Temco, Hudson, Bandai Namco Games, The Pokemon Company, Yukes and Level Five) have joined forces to try and take down the flash cart kings. The League of Gaming (as I like to call them) are filing a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court to prevent the marketing, sales and importing of such devices under the Unfair Competition Prevention Law.

While the injunction is for Japan only, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the League Of Gaming try and tackle other large markets (such as USA and China). The article I got this news story from is a little vague as to wether this affects just the R4 or all flash carts. Wile the R4 is definitely the most well known flash cart, it is quickly being overtaken by dozens of clones and competitors who deliver a more superior service, so if they are solely targeting the R4 then it isn’t going to exactly solve the problem. Tackling piracy is always going to be a tricky battle for several reasons. Firstly, the legality of Flash Carts needs to be looked at, as while they are able to cause piracy, they are also there for homebrew and storage, which is what they are marketed as. Also, it’s difficult to attack the companies uploading ROM’s as they are normally located in countries where holding backups is legal and therefore cannot be easily prosecuted. Therefore wether Nintendo will be able to place enough pressure on the legal system or not to overturn these issues remains unknown. However, by anyone standards, this is one of the biggest attacks against piracy we’ve seen in a long time and with such a large driving force behind the case, it will be very interesting to see the results.

Source

Inmates See 18+ Games Locked Away

This week has seen faces of horror across the prison cells of England and Wales as new measures ban the playing and possession of 18+ games for inmates. Also revealed was that no more of the taxpayers money would be spent on games or games consoles in the future. Instead, only those prisoners who have reached the highest level of the Incentives and Earned Privilages program and inmates who are at risk of suicide will be given access to games, providing they pay for their own console and any under 18 titles they may wish to play. Last year over £10,000 was spent on gaming for inmates. Geff Dobson, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust acknowledged that gaming provides a useful resource for prisons, but shouldn’t be a substitute for more beneficial activities.

“I don’t think anyone would have a great problem with incorporating these into a good behaviour programme, but we should not forget the usefulness of these games to prison officers and governors keeping order in overcrowded prisons,”“But the bottom line is access to computer games is no substitute for purposeful activity like work or education classes, both of which are being cut back because the government is failing to tackle the underlying reasons for the rise in the prison population.”

Prisoners being treated like prisoners? Thats a new one. I see this as a smart move, as the funding that would have been spent on gaming can now be used to try and tackle some of the real problems with our prisons system. It also gives inmates more of an incentive to behave during their time locked up and can give them a sense of accomplishment during their sentence. With all the controversy about violent games over the past few years, it’s a surprise these games haven’t been removed from our prisons sooner. After all, if they are supposedly turning our children into violent thugs, then it certainly wouldn’t be helping those who have already proved they have the means and capacity to act out such crimes.

Source

Homebrew Hacks Open Up DVD Library

This is a follow up story of Pirates Play Unmodded Wii’s from issue 1 of This Week In WiiDs. In this news story I spoke of hacker Bushings attempt to work with Nintendo to block a bug that allows pirated games to be played on an unmodified Wii. Unfortunately, Nintendo have refused to correspond on this issue. This bug has now been modified into a safe program which allows clean DVD’s to be played through your Wii. What’s more is that this program cannot be turned into a “softmod” to allow pirated games to be played. The program is due for release within the next week.

I find this story very interesting for several reasons. First of all, now the existence of this bug has been made public, several groups are trying to find it, meaning that eventually we’re going to see piracy grow pretty quickly, and it’s strange to see Nintendo not interested in preventing this. Of course they may already know of the issue and be working on it…

Also the idea of a clean DVD player with no modifications is excellent. Currently DVD solutions rely on modifying consoles or burning special disks, but a simple download and play solution opens up a lot of possibilities. It also means that Nintendo could create their own program for download in the Wii Shop and allow DVD access with no hassle, which would certainly be convenient.

Source

New Announcements

This is the new announcements section, where each week we tell you what new titles have surfaced and are on their way to you soon.

This week we’ve had a good mix of DS and WiiWare Announcements. First up is Time Hollow for DS. This adventure game by Konami sees you trying to solve puzzles in the present, by altering events in the past. It looks gorgeous with it’s anime style and if it uses the time mechanic well, this will be a must for fans of Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk Source

Popcap are also turning their attention to the DS with the announcement that the fantastic Peggle is being adapted to DS. Q Entertainment (Meteos And Lumnies) are behind this new adaption and will be bringing everything from the PC game, plus exclusive levels and a slew of new features to the mix. This is definitely one to keep an eye on/preorder right now. Popcap will also be bringing Amazing Adventures and Mystery Pi to the DS which see you searching for hidden objects. Source

This october we will also be seeing Suda51’s bomb diffusion masterpiece, Flower, Sun and Rain. I’ll post the first trailer once it’s released, but you can be sure this is one to watch/buy Source

The last DS game this week is a remake of The Humans. This is a Lemmings like game, only you are given direct control of up to eight prehistoric humans at once as you try and navigate your tribe to the exit. Source

Now, onto the WiiWare. First up is Fun! Fun! Minigolf by Shin’en. It promised 27 holes of Fun, Fun and Minigolf Source

Next up is Big Kahuna Party, which will see you swapping titles in much puzzle based fun with a relaxing underwater theme. This version is going to focus more on multiplayer than its PC counterpart Source

This week Marvelous have announced that they are making a brand new title for WiiWare. However, no details are currently known. Source

And finally, XGen Studios (Defend Your Castle) have also announced that they are working on a new WiiWare project using a brand new IP, but once again no details have been revealed. Source

New This Week

Here’s what you can expect to see on your local retailers shelves this week in Europe:

Wii:

• Popcorn Arcade: Battle Rage the Robot Wars ( 01/08/2008 )
• Space Chimps ( 01/08/2008 )

Ds:

• Puzzler Collection ( 01/08/2008)
• Space Chimps ( 01/08/2008)

Here’s what you can expect to see on your local retailers shelves this week in North America:

Wii:

• Little League World Series ( 05/08/2008 )

Ds:

• GRID ( 05/08/2008 )
• Little League World Series ( 05/08/2008 )
• Professor Brainium ( 05/08/2008 )
• Puzzler Collection ( 05/08/2008 )
• Quick Yoga Training ( 05/08/2008 )
• Rock Blast ( 05/08/2008 )
• The Cheetah Girls: Passport To Stardom ( 05/08/2008 )

Wiikly Feature

The Wii Remote. It’s revolutionised the way we play our games by adding motion control to the mix. But how does our pointing and waggling translate into the gaming worlds?

The Wii Remote uses two main pieces of technology to generate three forms of motion sensing. An infrared camera is used for tracking a stationary focus point for position tracking, while an accelerometer is used for measuring physical and gravitational acceleration.

Pointing Power

The first thing you do after turning your Wii on is point at the screen and direct your cursor to the channel of your choice, but how does the Wii Remote work out where you are and what your doing? All the work is done by infrared detecting camera in the top of the Wii Remote. Obviously in order for an infrared camera to work, you need infrared lights, which is what the sensor bar is for. The sensor bar comprises of ten infrared LED’s in total, arranged in two sets of five (pointing slightly outwards at the end of each group), distance x apart. These sets of LED’s are then focused into two points, with a distance of y between them (this distance decreases the closer you are to the sensor bar), which are then mapped on the Wii Remotes 0.8 Megapixel camera. A central point between these two dots can then be used to map a cursor onto your screen. By mapping the infrared points as they move across the imaging sensors grid, the Wii can fluidly move it’s cursor as you move your Wii Remote. The motion camera can also be used to determine your distance from the TV, by triangulating distances x and y.

Waving and Waggling

In order to translate your physical movement into the game, the Wii Remote uses a tri-axis accelerometer. As the name suggest this can be used to measure acceleration in six directions: up, down, left, right, forwards and backwards. Acceleration is measured using a silicon beam anchored at one end, suspended in an electrical field. As the beam moves with your physical acceleration, this affects the electrical field that it is suspended in and the readings can then be translated into direction and acceleration. One issue with accelerometers is that they cannot measure how far you have moved, only how fast. That is why a short flick and a long stroke in Wii Sports Tennis result in the same action. As it cannot track movement, this is why most movement will result in a preprogrammed response rather than actually mapping your movement.

Orientation and Rotation

As well as physical acceleration, the Wii Remotes accelerometer can also be used to measure the natural acceleration of gravity. Instead of measuring the acceleration of gravity, this feature comes into use when the orientation of the Wii Remote is necessary. As you rotate the Wii Remote vertically or forwards and backwards, the accelerometers respond to the gravitational pull and move out of their neutral position towards the gravitational pull. This can then be used to determine the orientation of the Wii controller. An example of this technology in use would be using the Wii Wheel in Mario Kart. By tilting the Wii Remote from side to side, the accelerometer reads the shift in gravity to the left or right of the device and then uses this information to determine how far to turn your car.

What Can’t Wii Remote Do?

One of the Wii Remotes main limitations is that the accelerometer is being used for both acceleration and rotation. This means that the Wii cannot perform both of these actions at once, limiting the potential of the Wii Remote. This means that, for example, is you wanted to do a sword slash, you are limited to the six directions of the accelerometer, thus making the experience feel limited and stifling.

The other problem with the Wii Remote is that it is impossible for it to track horizontal rotation. As all rotation is handled by gravitational acceleration, if you change the direction of the Wii Remote while keeping the gravitational point in the same place, no readings will be picked up by the Wii Remote. Having a whole axis of rotation inaccessible means that some precise movements are currently unavailable to us.

The Solution – Wii MotionPlus

Fortunately, Nintendo have found a solution to the Wii Remotes flaws in the form of Wii MotionPlus. This small expansion pack contains an X,Y axis gyroscope and a Z axis gyroscope. When these gyroscopes are combined with a tri-axis accelerometer they form an Inertial Measurement Unit, which can accurately track human motion. The gyroscopes are used to accurately measure all forms of rotation, including horizontal rotation. Not only is this more accurate than the accelerometer but also leaves it free to track physical acceleration. Therefore, it is now possible to accuraately measure angle, direction and speed, which can be combined to give a fluid, responsive motion which reflects your exact movements, giving us 1:1 control in our games.

Further Reading

How The Wii Remote Works: New York Times / Patent / ScienceLine / Wiki / X-Arcade

Accelerometers: Product / Wiki

Gyroscopes: How Stuff Works / Wiki

Inertial Measurement Units: Video Demonstration

WiiDs Online

Welcome to the Online section of the magazine, where we take a look at what’s new for download on the Wii, say hello to some new faces and take a look at the best forum topics this week.

Download Station

This week is WiiWare week for Europe and we’ve received a nice selection this week. First up us Defend Your Castle (500 points). Te basic idea of the game is to fling, throw and and generally destroy a stick figure army attacking your castle. There are a variety of upgrades and an ever increasing difficulty, combined with its quick simple fun makes this a worthwhile purchase for the small 500 point price tag. Also out this week is Wild West Guns (1000 points). This western arcade shooter offers plenty of blasting action as you shoot down targets and hostile enemies while avoiding the innocent. If you loved the shooting range in Wii Play or Links Crossbow Training this is definitely worth a download.

Over in North America there is two Virtual Console and one WiiWare game to download. First up is Chase H.Q. for Turbo Grafx 16 (600 points). This racing game sees you playing as police in pursuit of a vehicle. The game plays across a traditional three lane system and while the idea is interesting, the game is plagued by sluggish gameplay and annoying time limits. Next up is Art of Fighting 2 for the Neo Geo (900 Points). It looks and plays very similar to a Capcom fighting series based around fighting on the streets, but offers an interesting mental energy system. Using power ups uses mental energy, and taunting your opponents can deplete their mental energy. Thus there’s some added strategy as exhausting your opponents energy will leave them powerless. So if your interested in a fighting game not based on street fighting, be sure to give this one a look. Finally we have Pong toss for WiiWare (800 Points). This title is the reincarnation of Beer Pong, only without any beer. The aim of the game is to flick balls into cups in order to score points and outmaneuver your opponents. While the game is rather simple, a few friends and a few beers might make this an interesting party piece.

New Members

No new members this week, get out there and pester people to join!

Topic Of The Week

This section is for the best news and discussions started by you the listeners. Be sure to check the following topic and post.

This weeks Topic Of The Week is by What is a “Videogame”? by ChronoDiem. The thread looks at what actually makes a game and whether some developers are forgetting about the joys of simplicity. There’s some very interesting points in this thread so it’s definitely worth a read and if you have any thoughts, be sure to let us know! Check out the thread here.

And Finally…

Love the Wii? (Yup) Love Canoes? (Maybe…), then this is the ultimate appliance for you! This twin screw electric canoe can be controlled entirely with the motions of a Wii Nunchuck. Soon we can all enjoy cruising down rivers at a relaxing 4.5 knots while we idly daydream of our dream titles, proving you don’t drift off too far and crash into a rock or an island. You can view future of Canoeing here.

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Thats it for another Week In WiiDs. Please let us know your thoughts and opinions on the following topics as well as any feedback.

Until next time, We’ve Sown The Seeds, Now You Grow The WiiDs!

This Week In WiiDs – Issue One – All Eyes On Wii

This Week In WiiDs – Issue One – All Eyes On Wii

Hello and welcome to This Week In WiiDs, I’m Jack “The Jumpman” Smith and whether your at home, at work or trying to fill the gap while your favourite Nintendo Podcast takes a break, this is the best place for news, views and discussion direct on the forum.

Welcome to Issue One of This Week In WiiDs, published on July 25th 2008, your weekly roundup of all things Nintendo while the podcast is on Hiatus. I aim to bring you everything you love about the show, plus a little extra straight to the forums every week for your viewing pleasure.

Question Of The Week

This weeks Question of the Week is from Dark_Link:

“What would you like to see on Nintendos next hand held?I would like a special stylus that when you twist is it would twist what was on the screen.
Thanks!
Oliver Ronaldson”

Thanks for the question Dark_Link Personally I’m going to be quite boring and say Rumble. All the games that utilise rumble on the GBA and DS have all used it brilliantly and it’s added that little extra spark. Plus, being a handheld means that you will get a much more engaging feedback response. The only issue would be in interfering with the touch screen in terms of tapping accuracy, but if it used well rather than a vibrationfest it would be a great addition.

Thats my thoughts, but what about yours? Please reply to this weeks issue with what you would like to see in your next-gen handheld.

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If you have a question of the week for This Week In WiiDs, please send me a PM and i’ll be sure to use it. Any unused questions will be forwarded to be used on the podcast. If you want to get in touch with the team, you can email them at Wiidspodcast@googlemail.com and if you register this link on your Wii we will send you a message to your Wii as soon as we are back on air as well as when further episodes are released. You can also check out the WiiDs blog at http://www.wiids-podcast.com for more news, views and discussion as well as the latest updates. You can also find us snooping around the forums at http://www.wiidsforum.com, so feel free to leave us a message or PM and we will make sure you are the first to know when we are back on air.

News

This weeks headlines:

• Microsoft Wants Wii60 Motion Solution
• Pirates Play On Unmodded Wii’s
• Judge’s Ban Causes Controller Chaos
• Wii Takes Top Title

Microsoft Wants Wii60 Motion Solution

We’ve all heard the rumours about Microsofts attempt at motion controls, but interviews this week have revealed that Microsoft might be trying to take a different apporach to their motion solution. John Schappert (Vice President of Xbox Live) was recently quoted as saying that they were very interested in the idea of using the Wiimote in conjunction with the Xbox 360. While it is slim to none that this agreement would ever see the light of day, Reggie wouldn’t deny any possibility.

While this may not be big news on it’s own, this certainly isn’t the first time we’ve seen Microsoft try and get close to Nintendo, with Rare having announced that they had managed to create DS-Xbox360 connectivity and pre-Xbox there was even talk of an attempt from Microsoft to buy out Nintendo. We’ve also seen Microsoft try and recreate Nintendo’s ideas and philosophy with many titles announced that will try and attract the expanded audience and their new Avatar system that bears more than a slight resemblance to Nintendo’s Mii’s. Such a deal would definately benefit Microsoft, as a partnership with Nintendo would pretty much spell the end for Sony as well as open up their markets to more casual gamers. However, in this generation, such a deal would seriously damage the Wii, so as I stated, it would be very unwise for Nintendo to think about such a proposal for this generation of gaming. Still, with Microsoft becoming ever more interested in Nintendo’s ways, perhaps a partnership may not be impossible in the far future.

Source

Pirates Play On Unmodded Wii’s

The battle between Piracy and Nintendo has always been a long one, but when Bushing, one of the Wii’s leading hackers, responsible for assisting in the Twilight Hack and Homebrew Channel, sent an open letter to Nintendo, it looked like Piracy may have won the war. The letter described read:

“Dear Nintendo

As part of our efforts to understanding how the Wii works, we believe we have found a security issue that could allow pirated Wii games to be played on an unmodified Wii console.”

If such a bug was released into the public domain it would definitely hurt Nintendo as it could be easily and cheaply (if not freely) implemented, However, they might be able to survive, despite the lack of sales and possibly support from third parties as they have done with the DS, which continues to sell impossibly well despite having one of the most thriving piracy scenes of this generation. Luckily, Bushing is not looking at releasing this into the public domain, instead trying to work with Nintendo to prevent the flaw from being exploited. However, the worry still remains as others may find this exploit now its existence has been confirmed, and as Bushing himself has admitted, we still have no idea how most of the Wii works. Therefore this may only be the tip of the iceburg in our magic white box’s secret buggy insides.

Source

Judges Ban Causes Controller Chaos

This week, a Judges ruling has banned the sale of Gamecube, Wavebird and Classic controllers in America as well as $21 million in damages. Nintendo was brought to court by the small Texas based company, Anascape, who claimed that Nintendo violated their patent on a control device utilising six degrees of freedom. They had initially lost their case in May, receiving a fine of $21 million, but their failure to overturn, or at least reduce, the damages has proven unsuccessful. Nintendo is currently trying to appeal to the U.S Court Of Appeals in the Federal Circuit and the ban will be put on hold, however, Nintendo will have to either post a bond, or place royalties in an escrow to avoid the halt.

Sony and Microsoft were also challenged, however Sony decided to licence the patent in 2004 while Microsoft decided to settle out of court.

While the ban has been put on hold during this appeal, if they loose their case once more, it will hurt Nintendo’s profits. Fortunately as they no longer manufacture Gamecube and Wavebird controllers, they will only be loosing money on Classic Controllers, however, without these three controllers, a large portion of Nintendo’s Virtual Console titles will be rendered unplayable. Therefore allowing the ban to continue will not be an option.

If Nintendo is successful they should be able to overturn the ban and reduce the damages to be paid, so will it be third time lucky for the gaming giants?

Source / Patent

Wii Takes Top Title

We knew it was coming, in fact it was inevitable and it’s a surprise it hasn’t happened sooner, but the Nintendo Wii has finally taken over the top spot of most consoles sold in the US from Microsofts Xbox 360. Despite a year head start, Microsoft has been unable to produce enough demand to keep their top place and the Wiis phenomenal sales show no sign of slowing down with 133,000 sales per week. So far the Wii has sold 3.5 million un its this year, with the PS3 following second with 1.6 million units, closely followed by the Xbox 360 with 1.34 million units sold.

The DS also continues to dominate the handheld scene, with 150,000 units sold per week. On top of this Nintendo also took six of the ten best selling games of June, with Guitar Hero: On Tour, Wii Fit, Lego Indiana Jones for Wii and DS and Wii Play, which remains in the top ten for it’s seventeenth month in a row, yet to fall from the charts with a total of six million units sold.

Source

New Announcements

This is the new announcements section, where each week we tell you what new titles have surfaced and are on their way to you soon.

While E3 may be over, the announcement of new games are still rolling in fast, with new games announced for the Wii and WiiWare.

First up is Sonic And The Black Knight, which sees Sonic enter the world of Authurian legends, as you dash and slash your way through a series of missions. The game will be using a similar level system to Sonic And The Secret Rings with multiple objectives given in each world, but replaces the tilty movement with nunchuck controls (presumably to leave the Wiimote open to waggle). You can read more here.

From Capcom we have had the announcement of Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, which is a port of the Xbox360 title of the same name. The game will be based on the Resident Evil 4 engine and see you pitted against a shopping mall full of zombies as you try and survive. Source

However, this isn’t the only Wii title that we will be seeing from Capcom as in a recent interview they hinted that we have only seen half of the titles currently in development for Wii. So while there are no details, expect something soon! Source

Natsume have also announced plans to make a sequel to their puzzle title Puzzle De Harvest Moon. The original was a very interesting concept, but ultimately a bit shallow in its offerings so a well made sequel could tick all the right boxes. They also announced interest in making a WiiWare title but where this is the title mentioned above, or a new title remains unclear. Source

Speaking of Wiiware, Konami have just announced a WiiWare version of their classic title Gradius. From what i’ve seen so far it looks like the game will deliver the side scrolling shooting fun of the original, only with vastly improved graphics and sound. Source

We’ve also had an announcement of a new rhythm dancing game for WiiWare known as Helix. It looks like the game will involve striking poses using two Wii Remotes to the beat. The title looks to have a good selection of tracks and should be available this Autumn. Source

We’ve also had two new ERSB rating for Virtual Console titles. These titles are Sonic the Hedgehog on the Master System, which is for… you guessed it, the Master System and Splatterhouse 2 for the Mega Drive.

New This Week

Here’s what you can expect to see on your local retailers shelves this week in Europe:

Wii:

• No Wii games this week I’m afraid

Ds:

• Mr Slime ( 25/07/2008 )
• Race Driver: GRID ( 25/07/2008 )

Here’s what you can expect to see on your local retailers shelves this week in North America:

Wii:

• SNK Arcade Classics V1 ( 23/07/2008 )
• MLB Power Pros 2008 ( 28/07/2008 )
• King Of Clubs ( 29/07/2008 )
• Summer Athletics ( 29/07/208 )

Ds:

• Suzuki Superbikes ( 29/07/2008 )

WiiDs Online

Welcome to the Online section of the magazine, where we take a look at what’s new for download on the Wii, say hello to some new faces and take a look at the best forum topics this week.

Download Station

This week in Europe we’ve been given three new Virtual console titles. First up is Neo Turf Masters for Neo Geo (900 Points). Neo Turf Masters is a rather nice looking golf title with four 18-hole courses to explore and expect the usual power bar timing you’ve come to expect from golf games. If your a fan on the genre this is definitely worth a look. Next up is International Karate Plus for the Commadore 64 (500 points). This is pretty similar to International Karate released at the Commadores VC launch, only slightly prettier and the ability to have three fighters at once (but only two players). It’s highly rated by fans, but may its repetitive nature and unforgiving combat may drive some people away. Lastly we have City Connection for the NES (500 points) which is a strange car based platformer where your aim is to pain all the roads white without getting caught by the police. It’s obscurity leads for an interesting, but ultimately boring experience making this game 499 or so points too much for its enjoyment.

This week the US has been given two Mega Drive games and one new WiiWare title. First up is Super Fantasy Zone (900 Points), which is a colourful side scrolling shooter, so expect the usual mass onslaughts of enemies and rapid fire fun. Also this week sees the release of Gley Lancer (900 Points) which is another side scrolling shooter, only with a more futuristic theme. One WiiWare title also made it’s way to the Wii Shop in the form of Pirates: The Key Of Dreams (1000 Points) which sees you battling various pirate ships over ten levels. While the gameplay mechanics are fun, it’s on the short side so if your looking for a single player game, your money might be better spent elsewhere.

Japan has received a new Wii channel this week called the “Print Mii Out” (made up name) channel. This allows you to send off photos stored on your SD cards to be made into prints, photo books or business cards. There seems to be a good range of customisation and the prices seem fair, you can even have your Mii put on your business card There’s no news on a Western release yet, but we will let you know as soon as more information is released.

If that wasn’t enough, Japan has also received a code redemption section in their Shop Channel. This will be used to redeem free software using codes that come packaged in retail games. No word on what will be offered through this service as of yet, but it reminds me of the Band Bros DX, Speaker Channel, which allows Wii compatibility with the said DS game. This came with a redemption code, so perhaps we will be seeing more WiiDs connectivity in the near future.

There’s also been a new Wii update released this week. This basically installs some of the code required for the new Album channel to work correctly, so it’s nothing to get excited about.

New Members

New to the forums this week are:

• Tush
• Zimboo
• Lukepuke93
• McLovin

Welcome to the community and we look forward to talking with you

Topic Of The Week

This section is for the best news and discussions started by you the listeners. Be sure to check the following topic and post.

This weeks Topic Of The Week is by Darkoopa who asks “What do you want to see on your own custom DS?” We’ve had some very interesting ideas so far, from simple colour designs to character art. Theres also some very snazzy pictures of some of the rarest DS designs, so it’s definitely worth a look. Check Out the thread here.

And Finally…

After Butternut posted up a song based on the tune to Rainbow Road I did a bit of surfing and found this masterpiece based on the theme tune to Super Mario World. Is there no end to peoples lyrical imagination?

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Thats it for another Week In WiiDs. Please let us know your thoughts and opinions on the following topics as well as any feedback.

Until next time, We’ve Sown The Seeds, Now You Grow The WiiDs!

Can I Play My Games In English Yet?

Here in Europe it’s common to have to wait several months longer than Japan and the American Continents to recieve a game. This is usually due to translation, as the game is rescripted into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, Greek and many others. However, in 99.9% of all games that are released in Europe, developers forget one crucial language… English.

Some may argue that the games coming from America are already in English, but why should we have to put up with a bastardised version of our own language, filled with mispellings and words with different meanings. As far as i’m concerned, Americans do not speak English. Colour is spelt with a U, Grey has a E in, randomise has no Z’s in, Fries are chips and chips are crisps. Why should we have to put up with this shoddy excuse for the English language.

It can be argues that for small differences its not worth the effort, but if they are such small differences, surely it shouldn’t take more than a day to implement them and provide us with a proper translation. While you may not think it makes much of a difference, but a proper translation would stop our games feeling so Americanised and help prevent our culture from being diluted even more than it currently is by American TV shows. My cousin had a training game (can’t remember which one) where he lost a round for spelling grey correctly as the game was looking for the bastardised spelling. This then led to him spelling it wrong at school and getting into trouble.

The only game I can think of in recent years that has provided us with a true translation is Advance Wars: Days Of Ruin, where the script was rewritten to give users a more European feel to their battles and with it, correctly spelt words. This led to a much more enjoyable gameplay experience than when I played the US version.

I ask all developers to please take the brief time in the future to provide us with a true translation for our games, rather than giving us a game in the American language. There are differences, and it does make a difference, so the little effort would truly make a big difference. So maybe one day we can finally play our games in our native language.

Nintendo USB

From Nintendo:

Description of Duties

• Creating and executing a test plan for Wii’s USB devices

• Executing test plans with great attention to detail and documenting bugs

• Writing test procedure documents, gathering, and learning required software/hardware

• Reproducing bug reports and helping find work-arounds or resolutions

Summary of Requirements

• Extremely thorough with keen attention to detail and accuracy

• Able to execute scripted tasks lists with regular repetition

• Ability to reliably report and track defects via spreadsheets or other bug tracking software with great detail

It’s interesting to see Nintendo working on some sort of secret USB device, which we will hopefully ind about soon. Until then it’s time for my wild speculation So heres some of my thoughts on what NintendoUSB should be:

Nintendo Fridge

We’ve all head Nintendo’s fridge analogy, that we can store our games and redownload them again, but the gaming community is calling out for a storage solution and only a few months ago Iwata hinted at an answer may be coming. A USB storage device would offer more space and fast transfers, finally letting us download in peace without having to delete 5 games first. A nice piece of software alowing us to expand the amount of channel slots on our Wii pre-installed onto the fridge would be pretty useful too. I’m really hoping we see this at E3.

Wii Key(board)

Nintendo has already added USB keyboard support for use with the Internet channel and WiiMail and it’s possible Nintendo might have some more channels lined up that use the keyboard. As USB is already activated, theres no firmware that needs sorting out and using USB will leave all four controller slots free for gaming. A few hotkey buttons such as back. forward, and favourites could be used for the Internet channel, while others such as Home, +, – and a D-Pad could be added for navigation, making the browsing experience much more friendly.

Wii Content Sticks

This ones a far stretch but Nintendo could use USB devices to give out at stores with Wii content, such as videos, demos (very very far stretch), channels (assuming we get offline channels), firmware updates and DS demos. This is an effective way of promoting the Wii and its games, is easier on their download limits (especially for large files like demos) and provides offline Wii owners with content usually unavailable.

Wii Hardware Update

While software updates can be easily managed by Firmware updates and maybe in the future Wii Content Sticks, hardware is a different matter. A simple USB extension could offer new hardware capabilities, such as DVD playback or something im to tired to think of at the moment.

Theres plenty more possibilities and only time will tell, but any advancement on Nintendo’s part is interesting so watch this space (and probably E3) for information as it comes.

Has The Industry Forgotten Me?

Lately i’ve found myself sitting here, wondering where I fit into todays gaming demographic and i’m struggling to find my place. This generation has seen the industry divide into two main groups, each promising lots, but offering very little, and I find myself somewhere in the middle, in a dieing minority that the seventh generation seems to have forgotten.

My first personal console (previously it was other family who had the consoles) was the Gamecube, and it was very kind to me. Titles such as Wind Waker, Mario Sunshine, Billy Hatcher, Super Monkey Ball, Pikmin, Beyond Good And Evil, Mario Kart, F-Zero, Viewtiful Joe and Starfox to name a bare few. Platformers, adventurers and genuine creativity flourished with all companies experimenting with their games and bringing together great ideas time after time after time. It seemed we got a new creative and innovative game which changed the genre again and again.

Then the seventh generation came, dividing the gaming world. One half offered high spec, ultra-realistic, high definition gaming. The other offered innovative gaming to the masses, and so the divide came to be. The HD group has slowly been closing and closing in on itself. Many types of games have been banished from this section of the market, leaving a rather stale selection of three main genres: FPS, Racing and Sports. Due to the limited genres and the need for realism or bust I find myself looking at an endless library of the same five or six games repeated over and over again, with the new selling points being how many shades of brown the latest version of the stale series can produce. I will admit I haven’t got an Xbox 360 or PS3 so may be missing on a point here, but seeing endless clones over and over again isn’t encouraging me to…

The other side of the market is the all encompassing casual market. This itself seems to be divided within. One one half you have a team of dedicated developers bringing new, well made, casual games to a mass audience. Things like Brain Training, Picross, Sodoku Packs and Cooking Mama offer brand new genres of games that the majority of people will enjoy in one form or another. These developers are not only provididng a new type of game to entice a new type of audience, but also are pulling them into more mainstream gaming, giving the industry it’s much needed new lease of life. For those who understand that this is what the industry needs I congratulate you. To those who continue to pile out crap to to and jump on the causal bandwagon, treating casual game players as an inferior gamer, you are doing nothing but damaging the industry.

This is where the problem arises. Too many companies see “real gaming” as the HD market, and pass them off with endless amount of shoddy rehashes of what they know sells. Due to realism=£££ they can’t afford to take a risk with something new and thus we enter stalemate. Of course, these companies know a quick buck when they see one and thus are drowning the new market of gamers, which they need to survive with poor quality titles that looks cutesey and offer no depth as a way to buy off this “inferior” market. These games have little investment and little effort put into them as both of these have been moved into catering for the production costs of the HD games, thus creating a stalemate. This endless cycle leads to innovation dying slowly as the market becomes poluted more and more with bad samey games.

So where do I fit? The gamer who enjoys seeing new creative ideas being thrown out into the market, the gamer who enjoys running and jumping around rich, well designed worlds finding secrets hidden behind every corner. The gamer who companies werent afraid to try something new with. The HD market lacks variety and creativity, while the Casual market lacks effort and understanding. I’ve been thrown somewhere in the middle, left to die and forrage on the occasional gem that the a developer releases before it’s drowned in a sea of monotony. This is becoming increasingly worrying to me as the games industry as we know it is grinding to a halt, leaving behind the genius that made it, for the effortless rehashes that caused the first gaming market crash. I sincerely hope that the industry once again broadens it’s horizons for my sake, their sake and the fate of the gaming industry of today.

What Happened To Our Heroes?

In the (g)olden days, whenever a worldwide crisis would occur, there would be a hero to save the day. They would be a dashing youth, with an outrageous hairstyle, whos closest friends and family had been personally affected by the said evil. They wouldn’t be able to talk, but would have immculate fighting styles seemingly learned overnight. They would be able to single handedly save the world in two days flat, and still have time to do the sidequests. In the olden days it meant someting to be a hero…

Today saw the release of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King, and standards have really slipped since the old days. It’s your first day as King of Mapleberry (which is what I call all my towns) and you decide to chat to your only citizen. He mentions how cool it would to be a hero and poof, he becomes one. Thats right, just because he wants to be… No sad backstory of family death, no obligatory crazy hairstyle, no top fighting skills, hes not even got a world saving purpose…

Unfortunately this is pretty much the standard of what it now takes to become a Hero. Every day you get lines of kids that have only just passed puberty whining at you to make them a Hero as well. Even when you tell them no, they just nod their heads at you and carry on crowding round your castle. The only time you can get rid of them is if your assistant mentions your not paying them and then they still come back the next day.

If this new recruitment wasn’t bad enough, I have to report things only get worse. Every good Hero knows that you must NEVER travel in groups of more than four, as otherwise you become a mob. Ignorantly thinking that my Heroes would know this golden rule saw me disappointed as they went to fight the dungeon’s boss in a group of 20! Then again, i’m not sure they would stand a chance in a smaller party as there guys are running away, and being killed by worms. Thats right, no dragons, no undead soldiers, no possessed carnivorous pants that are super resistant against fire… WORMS! What sort of man calls himself a hero when he cant defeat a single worm (and i’m talking about the weaponless worms here before any of you try and get smart). They should rightly so hang their heads in shame when passing me in the town (well the ones that make it back), even the Old Heroes Great Grandmother could take down a worm in a few seconds.

I don’t know whats happened in the past few years to devalue Heroes so much, but standards are plummeting. Are our “Heroes” going to be fighting with bread sticks this time next year? I sincerely hope that my team of mishaps can get their act sorted before its too late for them, and that once again being a Hero will mean something.

Should Nintendo Licence Mii’s On A Game By Game Basis?

Mr. Miyamoto, the inventor of Mii, himself has been saying that, “In a sense, licensing Mii is same as licensing Mario – Nintendo should grant the license when we can conclude that the proposed project is worthwhile. Should we allow any and all the licensees to use Mii license for whichever projects, Mii’s brand image will be hurt. Because we are not granting Mario license to any and all, we should not do so with Mii either.”

This is the current policy of Nintendo. So, at the software development stage, we are consulting with the developers as to how they would like to make use of Mii, and our Licensing Department handles on a case-by-case basis. – Satoru Iwata

I never knew that Mii’s had to be licenced on a game by game basis and if I’m honest, I’m annoyed and pleased at the same time.

It’s no secret that Mii’s are criminally underused, with just 23 of the 561 known Wii titles incorporating them. Out of these 23 games, only 13 let you actually play as your Mii’s. Since the ability to play as yourself was one of Nintendo’s big features with the Wii, I feel let down by the lack of support they allow. After all, such a slight change can personalize the game so much more.

Nintendo has a fair point doing this though. Mii’s are fun to use, and using them in every game might devalue their status. Also, looking at the vast amount of shovelware burying the Wii, it would be easy for Mii’s to change from fun and innovative to the equivalent of how a Z on the end of a game tells you its crap. Also, there are a large amount of games which might not fit with the Mii theme, or might alter the Mii’s family orientated image. Still, these games could incorporate Mii’s without tarnishing their image. Several games, such as Super Mario Galaxy use Mii’s as a way to determine who’s save file is who’s and Metroid Prime 3 has a bobble head bonus on the main screen. Neither of these interact with the gameplay enough to change the Mii’s perceived image, but add a little smile and personalisation into the game.

While the game by game licensing of Mii’s, does help protect them from shovelware and gore filled bloodbaths, its still true that Mii’s are criminally underused. It’s easy to see why the Mii channel and other Mii based channels are being used less and less as Nintendo isn’t offering a continuous stream of support for them. While some may say it makes those games with Mii support more special, I have to disagree, as people are beginning not to care about the brilliant Mii Feature and if unused enough, may even be seem as gimmicky. I sincerely hope that Nintendo loosen their Mii licencing, so we can enjoy more high quality titles using these features without the Mii becoming another piece of the shovelware map.

10 Reasons Why The World Ends With You Is Like No Other

1. Twice The Screens Means Twice The Battles:

TWEWY’s battle system really is like no other. Firstly, the touch screen offers a rich absorbing battle technique with near perfect touch controls and over 200 different attacks, theres a lot to explore and customize with here, making every battle different. What makes it really unique though is the duel battle mechanic. While your slashing, sliding, taping and rubbing the bottom screen your partners battling on the top screen. This part of the games controlled with the D-Pad where you have to input combo commands in order to execute attacks. To make things even more interesting, each partner has different combo requirements, such as matching cards with attacks or using attacks of a higher or lower number (as specified) in ordert o build up your power. Both of these battles are connected with you and your partner sharing one health bar as do the enemies. Damage a wolf and it damages the same wolf on the top screen. Defeat an enemy and it gets defeated on both screens. A Combo Puck also flicks between players, letting you continue your finishing blows with your other character while you recharge before passing it back for the killer blow. All this makes an experience like no other.

2. Points Without Play

Leveling up your items isn’t confined to battling Noise. Theres two other spiffy ways to boost those stats. Firstly is the Mingle Mode, which gains PP whenever you come into range of somebody using wireless. It does have to be TWEWY either, any DS game will get you those extra levels. The other way is to simply not play. Every minute of downtime earns you PP, helping you to increase your power even when you cant play. Not playing for a day will normally increase your items by one level. This means your not stuck in mindless battles in order to gain enough strength to beat the next boss.

3. +6 Burger of Strength

Stat boots in the game are handled by food rather than items, and thus behave in foodly ways. You don’t automatically gain your stat boots but instead have to digest the meal over several battles in order to boost up. Also, you can only eat so much until your full, limiting how often you can boost yourself and adds tactics in what food you eat. Once your stuffed you have to wait till the next real day before eating some more.

4. Accessorize To Pulverize

Theres no +6 strength Armour to be found in this game, but instead the latest fashions. What makes this system unique is that the strength of your items depends on whats the latest must have fashion in the area you are currently in. The coolest of the cats can expect all of their items powers to be doubled, while a accessory disaster will find themselves struggling to keep up. This makes item management more crucial to the game play and ads extra depth to the game.

5. Level Down?

While getting to the next level might bring you added power, TWEWY offers you a good reason to decrease your levels. Your level can be decreased at anytime, lowering your HP via the main menu. While this may seem silly, its actually a huge incentive. Not only does it let you make the game more difficult, but a lower level yields you with greater rewards as more pins are dropped. Therefore a high level isn’t always the best solution.

6. You Choose When To Fight

When you play TWEWY don’t expect to walk a few squares and randomly enter a battle. Instead you can select when and where you fight. You can even pick the difficulty of the opponents. By activating your Scan mode you can see all enemies currently in the area and then you simply tap the ones you wish to battle to begin the brawl. This means you can fight to your hearts content, or take a few minutes to wander around and enjoy the beautiful world free from and annoying monsters.

7. You Choose The Challenge

This isn’t a game where you have to pick Easy, Normal or Hard before you start and then make you regret it. Instead the difficulty can be changed at any time during the in game menu, with difficulty being traded in for the number of rewards per battle. This means you have a helping hand when the going gets tough and can increase the tension when things seem a bit too easy.

8. They Actually Released The Soundtrack

A game soundtrack is a rare thing over here, found few and far between the generations of games, nether mind the individual games. TWEWY bakes these rules though releasing its fantastic soundtrack to the public, which has some of the greatest Japanese talent behind it. The music sets the tone of the game perfectly and is a very welcome addiion.

9. You Don’t Want To Save The World

Most games have you working on some higher quest to save the world from impending doom. As the title says, The World Ends With YOU. TWEWY is the story of one boy, in not so normal circumstances with a goal to survive no matter what the cost. This delivers a story on a much more personal level as you follow Neku through his eyes and as he learns the true values of everyday life.

10. It’s A Wonderful World

Not only is the district of Shibuya recreated beautifully, but the game also makes you appreciate the world you live in more. The  landscape, the cultures, the people, the game delivers an important message and it’s one that makes you appreciate your life so much more.

Is Wii Fit Expensive?

Wii Fit arrives in Europe on the 25th April offering the user the ability to use their centre of balance, and to that effect their whole body, to play. Perhaps one of the most talked about issues within the gaming community though is its £69.99 price tag. Many people who I have spoken too are claiming that its just too expensive to be worth their time and money, but is Wii Fit really too expensive?

Yes: With the average Wii game costing £30-40 pounds, Wii Fit is charging you almost double that.

No: Games with necessary accessories normally cost more. Guitar Hero III sold at £69.99 with its guitar controller and still managed to become a smash hit.

Yes: You could but Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess for that and still have £10 left, thats got to be more fun.

No: Wii Fit offers a different kind of entertainment not found in traditional games. However much you pay, if you enjoy he game sufficiently then its worth the money.

Yes: Why do I need a game to make me exercise? It costs me nothing to go for a jog in the park.

No: Because while people say its easier, many people do not want to put in the effort to buy a jogging outfit and run around for a few hours. Wii Fit offers a greater and broader package from the comfort of your own home.

Yes: Casual Gamers don’t want to spend all their money on a game.

No: The last big causal game package would be the Wii with Wii Play, thats £210. Wii Fit is only a third of that price and as games are brought less frequently they are more likely to spend more per game.

Yes: Why pay so much when there are hardly any games that use the Wii Balance board?

No: Apart From Wii Fit, both We Ski and All Star cheer Squad are confirmed to use the Balance Board. Nintendo have also stated they have at least 10 Balance Board compatible games in development.

Yes: Because this game (if you can call it that) looks rubbish.

No: Because there are plenty of people out there who will like this kind of thing and will happily buy it.

Yes: Wii Play, Link’s crossbow Training and Mario Kart Wii all have accessories and are all under £40

No: The Wii Zapper and Wii Wheel provided in the above examples are only plastic shells and don’t actually give you a new input. As for Wii Play that was just miraculously cheep.

Yes: £70 for a controller and game is more than I would normally pay.
No: A Wiimote, Nun Chuck, Classic controller with Wii fit cost £70. The Wii Balance Board and game cost £70 so its pretty even

Yes: Miyamoto himself said that Wii Fit isn’t intended to make you loose weight so it renders exercise substitute arguments useless.

No: While it may not have been designed for that purpose, they are certainly implying it with their advertising and even the name Wii Fit. On top of that, Wii Fit “experiments” have been partaken throughout the gaming community and have shown that it is indeed beneficial to your health.

Yes: While it may be cheaper than a Gym Membership, you don’t get the same benefits.

No: A one off payment suits people better than a monthly/annual membership fee and there’s no hassle, unlike going to a gym. Also your in a much more comfortable environment playing Wii fit, drawing in people who may be intimidated by the likes of a gym.

This is only a small selection of points i’ve heard, but hopefully at least one of these points will be relevant to you and that it might even change your opinion slightly, whichever side your on.

A big thanks to Mani, Tom and the WiiDs community for offering their opinions

ARG’s Thoughts and Philosophy

After a long conversation with Mani and a not as long conversation with Tom, it’s about time I actually bothered to write this article on ARG’s and what effect they could have on the general gaming community and the ways we play.

ARG’s (Alternate Reality Games) are a fairly new type of gaming which breaks the fouth, fifth and sixth walls and breaks the distinction between what is reality and what is a game. Rather than being played on a console as a character in that games universe, ARG’s use blogs and websites to convey their world. With each character blogging on their day to day lives as well as whatever their part in the story is, and mentioned places having their own websites, usually holding some sort of clue along the line as to cracking the “game”. You are yourself in these games and can contact and communicate with the characters as you would anyone else on the internet. There’s real people behind these characters so the “game” is shaped b the community and their input and suggestions. For example, if they were diffusing a bomb and you gave them the wrong information then don’t expect to see them in the plot again, while a quick relay of information may end up saving a character who was originally planned to be killed off. Online events are also present with people collaborating at key times to help live during “missions” as well as real life, creating q blend of gameplay that connects you to the world in an emotional level that cannot be achieved by most games as well as letting you truly shape the outcomes of the game.

Some of the more popular ARG’s to date have included: The Beast, I Love Bee’s, Perplex City and Iris. Many TV shows are using these today too, including: Lost, Heroes, Torchwood and Spooks,

I was involved in one of the largest ARG’s to date called Perplex City, which revolved around the retrieval of a missing artifact. While the world and characters were fictional, the artifact itself did exist and there was a £100,000 reward for whoever found it first. Over the three years of playing we solved puzzles, uncovered conspiracies, murdered agents, saved the life of widow thanks to quick thinking, killed off a few of the important characters, got chased down the street of San Francisco by low flying helicopters, wrote a book, spend several hilarious hours sending prank calls to the Perplex City Police Department, discovered a film trailer which hid a darker side in canada, received hints in the form of sky writing, tried to find a man only using a photograph and his first name (and still are) and found the Recada Cube worth £100,000.

Okay, i’m not expecting anything this big to be incorporated into normal gaming bt heres a few quick examples I made up of what it could be used for:

Imagine playing a WWII shooter and one of the soldiers your fighting with dieing. Okay your probably going to think no big deal and carry on blasting away.

Now imagine that you know that soldier, you’ve spend months talking to him and communicating with him. Reading his transcripts online and sending emails that not only are responded to, but influence his actions on his missions.You’ve followed him from step to step listening to his thoughts and feelings, giving advice and providing the tech support as he goes through his missions. Then watch this character killed off, knowing what he’s been through, his dreams and goals and everything he’s fighting for. Suddenly that one death makes a greater impact on your experience of the game, changing the way you think and feel about it.

This could also be used as a filler between games in a series, creating a greater link between story to story. It could also be used to show what has happened after the events of the original game. An example of this could be following and participating in the trials and accomplishments of a group of townsfolk after the disasters of the first game. Or possibly the other way round, showing events prior to the next game in the new areas its set in, giving those areas a greater significance when you see them in game.

Finally it could be used alongside games to deliver a sort of side quest. While not important to the story, delivers something extra. Animal Crossing would work perfectly for this sort of arg. I hate to use the rebuilding town example again but it works. Crosser X has moved into the small run down town of Y and needs your help. By communicating both in game and on the internet you can interact with X and the colourful cast of characters that move in thanks to the events and advice you give both online and in game. Then each of these characters and new places get their own blogs and websites where you can find out more, interact with them, and help them with their problems. Almost like a second town from yours, but that you cant actually visit. If this could be linked with your game somehow it would let you participate with events in game as well (perhaps send fruit to help them plant trees with the full amount donated affecting what happens next) and then you could even receive rewards for helping in game.
Okay these aren’t the best examples and it wouldn’t be nearly as complex as real arg’s but they could offer an insight into the gaming world like no other and change your experience of the game in new ways previously unexperienced.
So… what do you think? Would you be interested in these types of sidegames? Do you think they would work? Is my explanation as bad as I think it is? Are you still reading this?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions and am happy to try and answer any questions

Further Discussion can be fount at the WiiDs Forums