- Reminders
- Question Of The Week: Multiformat Purchases
- Nintendo Press Conference Announced
- New DS Bundles Announced
- Pokemon Still Going Strong
- Capcom Stop Exclusives But Maintains Support
- Ubisoft Knew About Motion Plus
- What We’ve Been Playing
- Wii Shop Releases
- Emails
- More!
- Announcements
— Strongbad Contest Reminder
— We’ve Been Nominated!
- Question Of The Week: Games That Should Be Films
- News
— Storage Solution “Better Than” A Hard Drive
— Animal Crossing Priced
— Nintendo Flattered By Xbox Avatars
— New Phantasy Star For DS
— Wii/DS Router Announced
- What We’ve Been Playing
- Virtual Console Releases
- Online Section
— Emails
— Topic Of The Week: WiiDS Games Night
- More!
The Contest
To celebrate the release of the monthly episodic adventure Stong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People, we at the WiiDs Podcast have organised a prize packed contest for our listeners. Over the next few weeks we will be playing a recording from Strongbad’s Wii as he plays five of his favourite WiiWare games. All you need to do to be in the chance of winning is tell us, in order, which five games he’s playing. The winning entry will then be drawn from all correct entries on episode 75.
The Prizes
A prize bounty worth £45/$90!
Prizes donated by Jack “The Jumpman” Smith (aka Cronogenesis)
How To Enter
Please email your entries to wiidspodcast@gmail.com. Entries should include your name, your email and your five answers in order. Please make the subject of your email “Contest” to make it easier for us to find your entry. Please submit your entries before 1st October 2008 to be sure of a chance of winning.
Free free to use the template below when submitting your answer.
Subject: Contest
Name:
Username:
Email:
Clip 1:
Clip 2:
Clip 3:
Clip 4:
Clip 5:
The Fine Print
- Question Of The Week: Unreleased games
- News
- Disaster strikes on October 24
- Run the Gauntlet in October
- KORG DS-10 announced for October
- Wii and DS to lead TGS
- GTA IV on Wii
- Main Discussion: Nintendon’t
- 10 reasons why Nintendo is not catering for its core gamers
- Is Shigsy still up to it?
- Is the company about to see a radical shift in focus?
- Are hardcore games worth it?
- Where do third parties stand?
- What We’ve Been Playing
- Virtual Console Releases
- Online Section, including e-mails
- Topic Of The Week: Imagine [insert random occupation here]
- Contest: Strong Bad’s Contest For Podcasting People
- More!
That’s right, we’ve been nominated for the European Podcast Award. All support is much appreciated so please vote for us 
Voting is open till the end of September so hurry 
Click on this link to vote: http://www.european-podcast-award.eu/uk/start/vote-and-win/non-profit/type/player/uid/953/podid/953.html
Please vote fairly. And frequently
Episode 70: Yultide Yearnings 2008
- Question Of The Week: Desert Island Games
- News
- Nintendo Dismisses DS Remake Rumours
- New Consoles To Arrive Before Next Gen
- Core Games 2-3 Years Away
- Motion Sensing On DS
- Main Discussion: Yuletide Yearnings 2008
- What games should you keep an eye out for over the next few months?
- What games should you avoid?
- Which ones suprised us the most?
- What We’ve Been Playing
- More
Episode 69: Live(ish) from Liepzig
- Question Of The Week: New Wii Channels
- News
- Censor call on MadWorld
- Ubisoft announces more shovelware
- Wii likes third parties
- Game Announcements
- Main Discussion: Live(ish) From Leipzig
- James reports from GC 2008
- What titles look promising?
- How many Wii/DS games are there?
- How are our favourites shaping up?
- Does he know any German?
- What We’ve Been Playing
- Online Section
- Emails
- Topic Of The Week: Custom DS/ Game Boy On VC?
Episode 68: OMWiiDs
- Guest stars: Alex and Ben of the OMG Podcast
- Question Of The Week: New Handheld Features
- News
- LucasArts Upset About MotionPlus Secrecy
- Overlord coming to Wii, DS
- The Name’s Wii, Yatani Wii
- Capcom: We’re Not Shafting The Wii. Honest
- Main Discussion: Wii Hacking
- The Twilight Hack
- The Homebrew Channel
- Homebrew On DS
- What counts as homebrew?
- Is it right?
- Nintendo’s view
- Should Nintendo encourage user-generated content?
- What We’ve Been Playing
- Online Section
- More!
- We’re Back!
- Question Of The Week: Favourite Bad Game?
- News
- Ex-Nintendo Xbox Rep: Wii is a gimmick
- Saints Row Wii: A bad idea
- Nintendo finds holographic storage solution?
- MotionPlus not exclusive to Nintendo
- Iwata: Miyamoto out of ideas
- Main Discussion: The Nintendo Difference
- Are Nintendo trying too hard to be different?
- Has this caused them to miss out on certain markets/successes?
- Virtual Console Releases
- What We’ve Been Playing
- Online Section
- Emails
- New Members
- Topic of the Week: Forum awards
Extended Notes: http://thewiids.co.uk/blog/?p=162
Direct Feed: http://cdn2.libsyn.com/wiidspodcast/WiiDS_Episode_67.mp3
Forum Response: http://www.nintencast.com/wiids/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1459
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.
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.
This weeks headlines are:
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
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.
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.
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.
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
Here’s what you can expect to see on your local retailers shelves this week in Europe:
Wii:
Ds:
Here’s what you can expect to see on your local retailers shelves this week in North America:
Wii:
Ds:
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
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.
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!
Kiambote Kieno!
This is just a short post to let you know whats going on currently. Firstly I am going to be taking a break from not posting what I said I was. This is due to the fact that while the WiiDs Podcast is taking a break I am in charge of putting together an online magazine format of the show. This is taking up most of my time and is a lot more interesting than my normal posts so until the show is back on air expect one very long post a week filled with news, views, interesting tidbits and randomness. You can read the first issue here. I’ll also be continuing to post Advert Of The Week and possibly some Creative Outlet so there will still be some new bits
Also, I just want to say thank you to everyone whos taken the time to read my posts so far. This week has seen my 50th post as well as Jumpman In Minus World reaching 2ooo views. I want to give a shout out to all of my regular readers in my next update to say thanks so please email me or leave a comment and i’ll be sure to mention you.
Thank you once again, without your support I probably wouldn’t be here still.
Jack “The Jumpman” Smith
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.
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.
This weeks headlines:
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Here’s what you can expect to see on your local retailers shelves this week in Europe:
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Here’s what you can expect to see on your local retailers shelves this week in North America:
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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:
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.
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!
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