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.

—–

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.

—–

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.

—–

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?

—–

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!

Nintendo E3 Wrap Up

Nintendo E3 press conference has came and gone for another year, and has delivered us with both a selection of interesting advances for the Wii, big branching titles for the holiday season and more for the traditional gamer to come.

Perhaps the biggest piece of news at this yeas conference was the unveiling of the next advancement in motion technology, known as Wii MotionPlus. This little device contains high-performance gyroscopes, which when combined with the Wiimotes current accelerometer and IR sensor, can deliver 1:1 controls in games. That means that however you move, you character will also move, exactly mapping your movements. This is pretty exciting stuff as no one thought we would be seeing such accurate control this generation, and opens up a wealth of new possibilities to developers. Demos of the technology shown (taken from the new Wii sports Resort, which will bundled with the Wii MotionPlus) included a Frisbee game, there your characters arm movements reflect your movements, a jet ski game, with the wiimote and nunchuck used as throttle and a sword fighting demo where slashes were mapped accurately and percisely. We’ve heard little about other companies projects using this technology other than strong rumours that Punch-Out Wii will be using this technology, however, it will be very interesting to see what becomes of it.

We also saw the unveiling of Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii, which brings the joys of living in a forest with animals onto the Wii. So far, we’ve seen that the game supports complete four player Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing each player free roam of the town. As well as the standard text chat (which can be handed by pointy typing or USB keyboard) Nintendo also announced Wii Speak. This device sits on top of your sensor bar and allows voice chat between you and any other players. Nintendo have taken an interesting approach with this, offering community based input rather than solo input as seen on headsets. This allows for greater input from more than one player at once, emphasising on Nintendo’s community approach, but may be too inclusive if it picks up unwanted house members and other noises. From the on floor videos shown though, the mic has some spiffy noise reduction built in, so hopefully background noise wont be too much of a problem. As well as online connectivity, the game also offers a city to explore. Little is known about this yet, apart from that some businesses have moved out there and an online global trading post, so it will be interesting to see what else they implement here. While what we’ve seen so far looks interesting (especially voice chat) I will be keeping an eye out for more features to be announced in the coming months in order to make this title a worth successor to the DS version, as few new town/city features have been shown so far.

Nintendo’s other big holiday title that was unveiled was Wii Music, an improv jam game exploring a different side of music to most rhythm games. While most games in the genre currently focus on giving you a instrument shaped piece of plastic for you to hit/press to the scrolling notes, Wii Music offers a much more open experience, allowing you to pick up one of over 60 instruments and play how you want to play. While this is simplifying the genre, it’s great to see a music game that lets you boot up and muck about. There seems to be a nice selection of Nintendo songs to jam with, as well as some challenge modes such as conducting, and music quizzes. The ability to send your sessions to firends, who can then add their own tracks on top is also very interesting, but i’m just worried if the game will have enugh to fully support it (even though i’ll probably buy it to muck about for days).

Meanwhile, on the show floor, several other Wii games were shown off. First up was Super Mario Sluggers, a baseball game in the Mario Sports series. While it looks to offer a much more in depth baseball experience than Wii Sports, as well as a dash of zany, it’s not one that has grabbed my interest and will only really appeal to sports fans. However, Wario Ware: Shake Dimension on the other hand as me giggling with excitement. The game sees a full Wario platformer on the Wii, complimented by beautiful hand-drawn graphics. As a big fan of the original Gameboy titles this is already pre-ordered

The DS didn’t get much attention in the conference, but did get some announcements on the show floor. The biggest announcement has to be the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, a brand new GTA game exclusive for DS, which will also feature online connectivity. Also shown off was Kirby Super Star Ultra, a remake of a SNES Kirby pack, which includes over six different Kirby games. I loved the original so with the additional content this is going to be a great buy. Pokemon Ranger: Shadows Of Almia is the second title in the Ranger series, offering a unique take on the Pokemon battles. It offers more of the same, only bigger, better, more options and more Pokemon (which isn’t a bad thing since I enjoyed the original). Make 10: A journey of numbers is an interesting approach at a math game, feauring several games based around the number 10, as you quickly try and formulate equations equalling 10 using a selection of provided numbers, decide wether groups add up to a multiple of 10 or not, scratch out numbers until you are left with ten and many others. The combination of maths and quick play challenges makes this a title to keep an eye on. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir is a new mystery game which sees you searching for clues and interrogatin suspect to ultimately discover the death of Phil T Rich (gotta love name puns). There have been some great mystery games on the Ds so far, but also a fair share of stinkers, so it will be interesting to see if this title can pull it off and deliver some fun sleuthing action. Finally, Nintendo announced Rhythm Tengoku Gold is on its way over here. I am a MASSIVE fan of this series so this new was excellent to hear. The game looks like its to deliver more rhythm based wario-ware-esque mini-games which is great to hear. My JP copy should be arriving in a few weeks so expect proper hype then.

While players wanting more traditional games felt disappointed, interviews with Miyamoto show theres a lot to look forward to on its way. firstly, the hard drive solution we’ve all been waiting for is near finalisation and should be unveiled within the next month or two. He also revealed that a Zelda Wii, Zelda DS, Mario Wii, Mario DS, Pikmin and Metroid title were in development. He also rather backwardsly confirmed that there is indeed a Kid Icarus title in the works somewhere at Nintendo.

So once again we are seeing Nintendo’s focus at E3 shift towards it’s technological advancements and casual titles while more traditional games are being saved for other events. This years E3 was not one of today, but one of tomorrow, showcasing the future of the Wii and it’s new capabilities while teasing us about its bigger announcements yet to come. E3 is no longer the central platform of Nintendo’s announcement, but a single pillar in a year-spread announcment plan, with new, exciting and innovative news being released to us periodically rather than all at once. Overall I have enjoyed this years showcase and will be keeping an eye on several titles in the months to come.

Advert Of The Week – Skydiving

This weeks advert is for the excellent Tetris DS. I love the style of this advert, as it not only gets the message of the game across, but looks great. It must have taken a lot of time and effort to prepare the dive for the advert, but it all paid off. The result has been a lot of fun for all those involved and a brilliant advert for us

Imagine A Good Game

Imagine - It'll Be a Lot More Fun Than Playing These Games...

The Imagine brand has become as synonymous with shovelware as adding a Z onto the end of a game or slapping Training to some mundane task. We all recognise these games as utter tat, but very few of us have actually played them. For all we know they may (and I use that word in the loosest term) be worthwhile. So an hour sat down and six games later I have experienced the Imagine series in all it’s glory and can now share all my experiences with you lucky folks.

Imagine Rock Star: Musics Never Been This Bad

I decided to start my adventure with Imagine Rock Star. The ryhthm game focus ment I had a chance of this being a proper game and I didn’t want my dreams shattered from the word go. The fancy photograph based boxart told me nothing about the game so I was going in blind. Immediately I was presented with garish sounds and several shades of pin that should be banned. Luckily there was an option to turn the sound off, which is perhaps the most sensivle part of this rhytmn game. The game offers four different instruments, Lead, Base, Keyboard and Drums, giving me vague hope of an actual game. This was soon to be shattered though… The top screen displayed my dodgy character and compressed font while the bottom screen showed my instrument of choice. Base consists of sliding up one of three different coloured bars you have to slide your stylus up over as the corrisponding colour reached the marker on the bar above. Base was pretty much the same only with a different background and sliding left and right instead of up. Keybord and drums bisically consist of tapping a part of the instrument at the right time. The siding mechanic works badly, with notes being missed completely even though yuve played them, or being played out of sync. However, this wasnt too much of an issue as it soon became apparent that it doesn’t matter if you play the notes or not as it dosen’t actually affect the song in any way. The music istelf seems to be some garish midi that has been hammered together by a two year old using ‘My First Keyboard’, and had me quickly reaching for the volume bar. Also, the in game notes to hit don’t really match up with the attempt at music, making the experience even worse. Unfortunatey I had to subject myself to several more songs and things didn’t get any better. Therefore I quickly retired and gave my ears a rest. Things weren’t looking good for the series…

Please Like Me, You Know You Want To

It’s at this point I decided to get the bad out of the way, so things will only look up. Therefore the next title was Imagine Babyz, featuring two of the shovelware traits. The box once again shoed nothing of the game, only some evil babies string into my soul. Anyway, the sooned I started ment the sooner it would be over so on with the show. The first thing I noticed with the game is that the screens dark, very dark, as in can’t see it on a regular DS dark… More garish music and graphics enused. Imagine Babyz is in its essence, a collection of poorly made mini-games strung together with a vage storyline about looking after babys. Two of my favourite games was the rattle game, where you shake a rattle for 30 seconds and the cow game, where you have to play moo’s in the right order. The problem with this game though is that the moo’s are very similar and the game dosent tell you which direction to shake for which moo. On top of this, it was rather glitchy and would play different moos than it was ment to. Playing random mini-games enough will eventually progress the story slightly, where you unlock another terrible mini game to endure. On the plus side though, the character models were slightly better than Rock Star.

Stroke Animals In Special Places To Make The Better

Next up was Imagine Animal Doctor, which I hoped would be more than the monotonus mini-games of Babyz. I was wrong… Once again bad character models and music ruled the day, with my character slowly moving through the surgeory, gliding over the floor. Luckily, you don’t have to walk far, as tapping a button will instantly warp you to where you have to go. After a lot of non-playing I finally got to meet my first, a cat called ladybug. Diagnosis consits of a random selection of mini-games. Some of the best I encountered was scales where you have to tap a button to weigh the cat and Ultrasound, where, in the games own words, you “move the stylus around the screen” None of the games were very responsive and weren’t very fun either. Between mini-games you have to stroke your animals better while you wait for the game to decide that your bored enough to play a new mini-game. The mini-games are better than Babyz, but still pretty dire, and as before, after 5 minutes, you’ve seen everything you want to.

Pamper Disembodied Heads

I had reached the half-way point so things could only better now, as I entered Imagine Fashion Designer. Once again the usual garish music and charater models welcomed me into this “game”. I use the word game in the loosest terms as it’s hard to call it that. At the start of each level you get a briefing on what the client wants, and then tells you exactly what you need to do in order to achieve that. You then get to actually select the options, but don’t worry if you make a mistake, your fashion carrer won’t be over. Instead the game tells you whats wrong and you select again. And thats it, all the game, just selecting what the text says. To be fair, you can play with the selections in your own time, but this is limited and rather dull, as rather than making your own ranges, you pick one of theirs and slap it on some sort of outfit.

Lightning Is The Number One Cause Of Death For Figure Skaters

I was in luck, as thins were abot to get ever so slightly better with Imagine Figure Skating. Unfortunately though, not much better. The garish music is there, but the graphics are ok for most of the game. Rather than 3d models you have quite nice hand drawn characters, who stand around static backgrounds waffling on about skating. However, the bareable visuals are complimentd with terrible voice acting, which hurt my ears. The actual gameplay itself is made of 3d models, with the aim of the game is to trace random shapes with your stylus to perform tricks several seconds later. Different tricks means idfferent shapes, but apart from that theres no variety. Still, it works in a very basic form and it better than the rest, but still not quite good enough to be verging on ok.

Imagine A Kitchen... Or Go Downstairs..

I had saved the best till last. Research told me that Imagine Master Chef wasn’t actually made by Ubi, but was instead a Japanese Cooking Mama clone, that had been translated and had the Imagine title slapped on. This ment it may actualy be a enjoyable game and that it wouldn’t folow the paterns of its sisters. Indeed it looked hopeful, the cartoony graphics are very similar to tha of Cooking Mama and the music is bareable. The game itself is enjoyable (in it’s loosest term) too. It plays just like Cooking Mama where you have a short mini-game in order to prepare a step of the recipie, such as Chop!, Boil! or Wash!. However, unlike Cooking Mama, there’s no time limits so the arcade feel is missing. Despite this though, it does a half decent job of replicating the games merits and if I had to, I could quite happily play the game through.

In conclusion, the Imagine series lives up to its Shovelware branding, with garish audio and visuals complimented by unplayable mini-game compilations. These games shouldn’t be alowed to be sold, and I feel very bad for anyone whos brought these monstrocities. Having said that though, one of the games manages to pull everything off (admitedly the one Ubisoft didn’t make), so there is some hope yet. Thathope dosen’t extend to the eight new Imagine titles being released this Autumn though, which i’m sure will torment many many more people with its promises. All I can say is listen to the title and Imagine, as it’s bound to be more fun than playing these games.

Review – Space Invaders Extreme (DS)

In 1978, the world was in danger, and only one laser cannon, shileded by bunkers, could save us all from an invasion of blocky bleepy aliens… This is of course the story of Space Invaders. A story that has been remade and retold countless times over the years, introducing, sightly less blocky looking aliens, and adding more bleeps to their vocabulary, but now, after thirty long years, the next chapter of the story unfolds as Space Invaders gets a true sequel. This game is extreme… Extremely Fun!

Space Invaders Extreme looks at the slow repetitive gameplay of the original, and kicks it into a fast paced frenzy of psychedelic colours, rapid fire, alien smashing beats, combos, double combos, powerups and pixel demons from another planet.

At it’s core, Space Invaders Extreme still holds true to the originals move left, move right and fire at a seemingly infinate number of waves of Invaders, but kicks it up several gears. Gone is the slow moving aliens and even slower firepower in place for quickly scrolling formations which can be hit within the same half second of firing. Formations now take ten to thirty seconds to demolish rather than five to fifteen minutes. Once one groups gone, a completely new formation (no more identical blocks) appears to crry on their onslaught. Speaking of everything being the same, this time the aliens bring with them some interesting powers, including bomb drones (which blow up everything around them when hit) shield barers (hold shields), giant laser carrying demons (you get the idea) and many more. Colour also plays a big part in your enemies as well. Space Invaders Extreme has a brilliant combo system in place, where hitting four of the same colour in a row drops a powerup, ranging from bomb cannons (red) to multiple fire (green) and the laser cannon (blue). Chaining two of these combo’s together lets you try your hand at a bonus stage, where your given a set time limit to clear a goal and unlock fever mode. Fever mode lets you take control of an even more powered up weapon for an even longer time, giving you the change to cause some massive damage as well as rack up a phenomenal score.
After you’ve taken down enough of these rapid fire formations it’s time to meet one of space Invaders eleven bosses. These giant pixelated nasties take up a good portion of a screen and offer a great challenge and a lot of fun.

While gameplay is the most important aspect of the game, Space Invaders does an excelent job of wraping it up in some stunning visuals and sounds. The game offers a beautiful changing belnd of colours, while the retro looking invaders wiggle around in front managing to keep their retro look while feeling right at home in this new-age invasion. The soundtracks filled with funky beats, but what realy sets it apart is your interactivity with it. Your bullet spray and the crushing sound of the aliens defeaat are made up of different beats, giving your defending a melodic tone, complimenting the soundtrack prefectly.

Overall, Space Invaders Extreme takes the classic gameplay of one of the grandfathers of gaming and gives it a much needed rennvation, setting its place in modern gaming. It’s fast paced fun is prefect for quick blasts, while a deep combo sytem alows a longer session to make the most out of their time. While an endless mode would have been a nice addition, the replayability of the levels makes up for it’s absence. It’s also a shame to see that there will be no paddle controller (just like the arcade days) included with the western versions, but thankfully, a Japanese paddle will work with any copy of the game. If your looing for a game to keep you playing over and over again then look no further.

The Flipside:

• Fast Paced Fun
• Combo system opens up many opportunities.
• Very repayable

The Flopside:

• Still the same game at it’s core
• No paddle controller with EU or US versions (although a JP paddle will work)
• No endless mode

Order Your Copy From Play-Asia.com – Your One-Stop-Shop for Asian Entertainment

Advert Of The Week – Marbles

Welcome to my first ‘Ad Of The Week’, every weekend(ish) i’ll be showcasing a classic/well made/stange/wtf Nintendo advert from the archives for your entertainment.

This week i’ve chosen a very stylish DS advert. It’s one of those adverts where they manage to get the product across as well as it’s purpose without going into mass details about it. the marbes are used well, keeping focus on the message throughout the advert while looking rather spiffy. Theres one particular scene towards the end where it’s on a road where the lighting and reflection is spot on. They also never look too out of place, which gives the advert a nice natural feel to it.

Anyway, thats enough ramble, here is the first ‘Advert Of The Week’

The Best Games You Never Played – Pac-Man Vs

Anyone who knows me knows i’m a big Pac-Man fan and out of all the Pac-Man remakes and spin offs, there’s only one that holds up with the original. That game is a small title for Gamecube and DS called Pac-Man Vs.

Originally developed by Miyamoto through the Triforce Project, Pac-Man Vs. was created to show off the Gamecube’s connectivity with the Gameboy Advance. It did this by taking the Pac-Man we know and love and putting your best mates in control of the ghosts. With a limited view the ghost players had to hunt down Pac -Man and avoid his power pellet death sprees. Meanwhile, one player would be holding the trusty GBA and controlling Pac-Man, doging his friends and chomping pellets. The player conrolling Pac-Man would gain points for every pellet eaten and if he was caught, the successful ghost would take their place as Pac-Man in a new round. It was a mad dash to 5000 for the title of Pac-Champ. It was such a simple idea but one that worked so damn well…

While it was brilliant fun, it wasn’t exactly the easiest fun to be had. Firstly you had to actually find a copy of the game (which was no easy feat) then grab four mates around your Gamecube and a Gameboy Advance (with the necessary cables). all these factors meant that very few people were able to enjoy it’s brilliance. Luckily, the game saw another day of light in Namco Museum for Nintendo DS, where it was added as an extra. This mode saw wireless connectivity as well as more stages to enjoy, and was the version which I instantly fell in love with. Many an hour was lost during my free periods at college as I wiped the floor with my Pac-Munching skills, clearing the round in a flawless victory and I had equally as much fun trapping my friends in a corner as a ghost, only to have someone else steal my kill from before me. It’s one of those games that never really gets boring and screams for one more go.

If you see a copy of Namco Museum I highly recommend you pick it up. As well as this brilliant lost gem you also get seven classics, such as Pac-man, Mappy, Galaga and Dig-Dig 2. Until then I leave you with the brilliant Pac-Man Fever.

Rhythm Tengoku Gold Is On It’s Way!

The new Nintendo DS game Rhythm Tengoku Gold is due out in Japan on July 31st 2008. The game offers various new rhythm games utilising the touch screen focusing on timing. Much like its Gameboy Advance Counterpart, you’ll find yourself riding in the rhythm with it’s simple, yet engaging, play.

As for more detailed information, you’ll just have to wait a little bit more!

It’s no secret I am a massive fan of the original Rhythm Tengoku, which combined brilliant upbeat music with crazy minigames, which made the equivalent of Wario Ware: The Opera. Each of its 48 minigames offer a wacky unique twist on the rhythm genre, from tapdancing monkeys to virus busting to plucking hairs out of onions to saving the world from masked horrors. The game also included eight remix levels, offering very warioware esque gameplay quickly switching between games. A sequel is nothing but good news and to see it coming out so soon is nothing but good news. While we won’t be seeing it coming out over here, I can highly recommend importing it and will be sure to offer my opinions as soon as my copy arrives. Until then, check the video below for an idea of the games madcap fun.

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.