Wired Magazine on How To Cheat at Wii Fit
February 17, 2009 Category: Wii Gaming No Comments »
Are you smarter than a gyroscope and weight sensor? The people at Wired Magazine apparently think they are.
When doing the Jacknife crunch, the Wii balance board measures the pressure and counts a release of that pressure (when you’re supposed to be lifting your legs) as a successful jacknife crunch. Instead, we’ll just sit down with our feet resting on the balance board. When it tells us to crunch, we lift our legs off it and the Wii loves us.
For running in place, just bounce the wiimotes up and down.
I love the slalom tip. Just sit down and move your butt back and forth. I wouldn’t have thought of that one.
For more very usefull tech tips grab a Wired Magazine subscription. You can see the Wired article here.
If you have any other creative Wii Fit workarounds, please comment.
Zoo Hospital Review
February 2, 2009 Category: Wii Gaming No Comments »
You love animals, but your cat does not let you approach him since you tried to put his leg in a cast? With Zoo Hospital, your Wii will allow you to indulge your love of animals without fear of scratch in retaliation.
Games that offer to put you in the gown of a veterinarian follow each other, but fortunately for us, they are not alike. After Farm Vet on PC that is not really convincing and Petz Vet, still on PC, that is truly catastrophic, Zoo Hospital looks like a breath of fresh air for all animal lovers. The idea of a game where you treat zoo residents is far from revolutionary. But we must admit that this is a handy way to justify the meeting a wide variety of species. In Zoo Hospital you can look after about 50 animals from around the world. From the hippopotamus to the platypus, through bears and meerkats, the scenery is at the end of your stethoscope. Unfortunately these discoveries quickly become a routine: the animals are varied but the diseases that you encounter are the same from one specie to another.
Unlike his version recently released on DS, the Wii version of Zoo Hospital has a real scenario. Newly promoted veterinarian, you pick your first job in a zoo. Unfortunately this facility is in danger: it accumulates debts and a property developer intends to raze the building for a huge mini-golf. To save the zoo, you will have to take care of the animals; it is only on this condition that you can accommodate newcomers. From the map you have direct access to various residents. You can visit them at any time to pet or feed them. Good news, each resident have an identity card quite accurate. Young people addicted to animal documentaries will certainly love this database which will quench their thirst for knowledge. They will discover, for example, that a Casoar can run as fast as 30 km/h or that a crocodile can measure up to 8.5 meters. Of course, a veterinarian does not pass all his time contemplating animals; he must treat them especially when they are sick. Do not expect any of your little residents to leave you alone…
Animals are very well modeled and animated in a very realistic way. The care phases do not have all the same work to do and we regret, for example, that all mammals are found with the same jaw.
Handling is not a problem; it is usually about targeting the area to treat with the Wiimote. You will need about 6 hours to overcome the eight sections of the script. This is an honorable life for this type of game, but some aspiring veterinarians will eventually get tired to meet the same conditions. Note, however, that the cooperative mode just rekindles interest in the game. The music is quite correct, but not great. The sounds of the animals are more successful however.
Overall, if you want to treat animals from around the world, Zoo Hospital is for you. This veterinarian simulation has great graphics and a good database on animals. We can always blame it to offer medical mini-games that are too repetitive, but this flaw is counterbalanced by the presence of a cooperative mode rather distracting.
World of Goo Review
February 1, 2009 Category: Nintendo DS, Wii Gaming, Wii Help, Wii Reviews No Comments »
The video game market is being divided into two sectors right now. On the first hand, blockbusters, increasingly expensive labors and resources, imposed at the top of gondola by the marketing machine. On the other hand, independent games made by a handful of enthusiasts without money, but with love. Among those titles, there are sometimes a little jewel products. This is the case of World of Goo, just bringing a breath of fresh air on WiiWare, and it’s a great game!
Developed by 2D Boy, a young studio consisting of two developers (!), this puzzle-game might well have joined the overwhelming mass of anonymous, like too many titles of the genre. But it would not rely on the talent of Ron Caramel and Kyle Gabler, who clearly know what makes a good game; it is primarily a solid concept. The World of Goo is childish: you must bring a number of small black balls, the famous Goos, to the output of each level; a principle as old as Lemmings. However, the Goos are amazing: they are able to create links between them, much like atoms in a molecule. In assembling, it becomes possible to create structures such as towers and bridges, which allow you to overcome obstacles. So, the basics are easy to learn, especially since everything is done in a few movements with the Wiimote.
Kyle Gabler, the artist of the duo, has done an outstanding job. We will not speak here of dynamic lighting and bump mapping, just crude artistic talent. The world of Goos is a little jewel of inventiveness, even if we can see some influence by places. However, World of Goo has a charm.
The Wiimote is enough to move Goos and form a structure; we immediately understand how it works. But 2D Boy has managed to transcend this simple principle with a clever level design, which never ceases to surprise us as we progress in the game. The gameplay is surprisingly so deep. This is high art.
World of Goo offers 50 levels and it takes about 8 hours to be done with all of them. However, it can be very pleasant to return and try saving more Goos to build the tallest tower, to get the awards or just for fun to browse this haunting world.
Whether in music or small noises made by the Goos, everything is really cute, adorable. The sound is a frank success. A puzzle-game with a real story and not an indigent story, is it possible? Yes, World of Goo proves it. Yet the narrative is very brief, since it is largely through signs … But it works and it disappears quickly in the sweetness of this funny and poetic world.
World of Goo gives us a real lesson in game design and creativity, in words of art. What remind to the most jaded of us why we love video games. There is still hope in this formatted world and it feels good. What more, if not thank you 2D Boy?
Vigilante 8 Review
November 12, 2008 Category: Wii Gaming, Wii News No Comments »
For all of the talk about Activision seeking “exploitable” franchises in recent days, here’s one release that wouldn’t seem to follow that business plan…at least not on the surface. Vigilante 8: Arcade is a mashup remake of sorts of Vigilante 8 and Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense, a pair of PS2/N64/Dreamcast car-combat titles that debuted before the turn of the century and had not been touched by developers since. While the built-in thrills of the car-combat genre remain intact and the $10 price intrigues, little else has changed in the last decade or so — more for worse than better.
Series aficionados will take heart at the integrity of the core game mechanics and universe, which are likely just as they remember it from the original games — as in Twisted Metal, you drive around a handful of diverse arenas, dispensing various projectiles in an effort to be the last man (or rather, vehicle) standing at the end of each match. Charged shots and upgradeable vehicles (via collectable scrap pieces) set Vigilante 8 apart from its now-faded genre competition, along with a 1970s setting packed with references to disco music, the oil crisis, and UFO-loving hippies.
Libraries Will Celebrate National Gaming Day on Nov. 15
November 10, 2008 Category: Wii Gaming No Comments »
See this? Now imagine it with video games. Makes it so much better, doesn’t it? And that’s exactly what we’re going to get as libraries across the country gear up to celebrate the first ever National Gaming Day on November 15.
“Gaming formats have become a valuable tool for libraries,” said American Library Association President Jim Rettig. “Not only has this new format increased library usage from hard toreach users such as teens, we also have found that video games attract a variety of users and are a great vehicle to teach basic technology skills.”
National Gaming Day will feature online tournaments using T-rated games (sorry, no Gears of War 2 bouts for you), Pictureka, Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons, though the setup might vary from library to library. So if you have some free time on the 15th, now you can spend it proving why games belong in libraries. Isn’t that nice?
Mature Games Making Their Way to Wii
October 6, 2008 Category: Wii Gaming No Comments »
One of the reasons many ‘hardcore’ gamers usually stick to their PS3 and 360 consoles was the lack of what would be considered mature games released for the Wii in its first few years. The Nintendo console has been blessed with many great games, such as Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, and the plethora of Wii based games such as Wii Fit and Wii Sports. However, these games can only do so much to satisfy a hardcore gamer who enjoys FPSes, RPGs, and strategy games. The cutesy graphics are great and the stories for these games are entertaining, but the Wii was missing something.
About a year ago, the Wii started receiving serious gamer titles. Tomb Raider found its way onto the Nintendo platform, with unique methods of controlling Lara which made the game work exploring. Resident Evil 4 was also released for the Wii, which takes the series to a whole new level of control and combat in a zombie shooter. So what’s coming up that should have mature gamers excited? Call of Duty: World at War is being released this November and will be the first time the Call of Duty series has been featured on the Wii console. Instead of facing the European side of World War II against Germany and Italy, World at War focuses on the Pacific side of the battle, specifically, Imperial Japan. The game plans to make use of the Wii Zapper in order to give the feeling of real life combat. Hopefully the entrance of Call of Duty onto the Wii console will show game developers who produce action and FPS games that the Wii console isn’t just about offering great family entertainment, it can be about exploring the dark side of humanity in games as well. Now we just need to get Condemned onto the Wii platform.
Wii Accessories You Can’t Miss
September 14, 2008 Category: Wii Gaming No Comments »
Everyone loves to play their Wii. I particularly enjoy trying to beat my previous scores with things like Wii Fit and Wii Sports, but there are a few things I’ve noticed that I just can’t live without while playing my Wii. If you’re like me and enjoy a wide variety of games, these accessories will definitely come in handy for you.
1. Nyko Charge Station for Wii - I can’t tell you how many batteries I’ve gone through while swinging my Wii-mote around as Link, or attempting several swan dives as Lara Croft. I remedied this problem by getting the Nyko charge station. It comes with a dock which can hold up to two Wii-motes and two rechargeable battery packs which fit right into the back of your Wii-mote. The charger light stays blue when your Wii-motes are charging, and turns green when the charge is complete. It only takes about two hours to fully charge two Wii-motes, so you’ll save a ton on batteries by getting one of these.
2. Link’s Crossbow Training (with the Wii Zapper gun) - The Wii Zapper is a simple machine-gun style shell which you can place the Wii-mote and nunchuk in to give you the feel of actually holding a gun. It comes with Link’s Crossbow Training which is a great way to get used to using the Zapper, as you’ll find it’s great in many games, such as Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Call of Duty: World at War, Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, and Ghost Squad.
3. Wii Classic Controller - If you have any classic console games at all on your Wii, you know that many of them require this classic controller. However, there are a few standard Wii games which make use of the classic controller. You can also get the classic controller in the SNES style, for those who like to remember the good old days of gaming as they zoom through their classic SNES games on the Wii.
What’s coming up for Wii in October?
September 6, 2008 Category: Wii Gaming No Comments »
October is a HUGE month for Wii, with over twenty new games coming out, not to mention the few TBA schedule games that might just pop up out of nowhere. There are also several major titles coming out in October, plus! a new Army Men game. For those of you who have played –and loved, Army Men games on the Playstation console, this is going to be awesome. I was a big fan, but who knows, I might just be a nerd. Here’s what to expect in October:
Major Titles
Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune - Not much information on this one yet, but I’m pretty confident in its awesomeness. The release date will fall around either Oct. 1st, or Sept. 30th; we’ve got it in Oct. just in case.
Bratz: Girlz Really Rock!
Bratz Kidz: Slumber Party - Can we really even call these games major titles? The dolls are even more disproportional than Barbie, for god’s sake. These two new Bratz games will hit the shelves –and hopefully, they’ll stay there, –around the 21st. I’m not sure how popular Bratz are with kids these days, but for small female children, it’s probably highly anticipated. If your kids aren’t banging down the door asking for Bratz stuff, don’t go for it. While Barbie works for a living and has her own house, and car, Bratz live at home and still dress kind of skanky.
Dancing With The Stars: Get Your Dance On - We have to put this up here as mainstream because it was a tv show. Besides, it was a popular tv show, that I thankfully missed, –and the game could be a lot more entertaining than the show. Just think, you could be dancing around in your living room with your very own has-been celebrity on October 22nd.
Guitar Hero World Tour - Oh yes, reading through all that stuff about the Bratz games was worth it for this one. Why? Don’t you know?! The new Guitar Hero World Tour is going to be the FIRST in the series to include both drum, and microphone controllers. And, including to both Game Informer, and confirmed press information, that players will be able to create their own songs, as well as share and upload the songs they’ve created. Custom songs, and downloadable content will be coming to you on October 27th.
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon - This is the third and last Spyro game, –sad but true. Though the main audience that Spyro’s been marketed to is teens and young adults, I’ve seen many a grown-up getting down with the dragon. Lots of new features in this game, such as the ability to fly all the time, whenever, dubbed “free-fly” mode. Comes out on October 7.
Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek - Maybe not quite as mainstream as Naruto or Guitar Hero, but still a big hit with the kids, and a much better game for children than that asinine Bratz stuff.
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 - Another big event in gaming, is the second installment in the “Clash of Ninja Revolution” series. Lots of 3D fighting, and butt kicking, and will be much appreciated by all the hardcore Naruto anime/manga fans out there. Comes out October 21, 2008, and will even be in English!
Manufactured Beauty - Another hand drawn Luc Bernard creation. I put this under Major Titles, because even if Bernard is indie, his last game, Eternity’s Child, made a lot of fans. He has several other projects going right now. There’s little to no information out about Manufactured Beauty right now, though its creator was nice enough to release two images, –one of them is a girl who looks like Roger Rabbit’s girlfriend, playing a bloody cello, and the other is of a rabbit robot who also looks like he’d be handy as a kitchen appliance.
Music Related
Boogie SuperStar
DC Karaoke
The Naked Brothers Band: The Videogame
Sports
FIFA Soccer 09 All-Play
Guinness World Records: The Videogame
NBA Live 09 All-Play
And Everything Else
Build-A-Bear Workshop A Friend Fur All Seasons
Dokapon Kingdom
PBR: Out of the Chute
Pet Pals: Animal Doctor
Rubik’s Puzzle World
Tak and the Guardians of Gross
Wii In September
August 9, 2008 Category: Wii Gaming No Comments »
BY Russ Hancock
There are a few anomalies coming out this September, though all the usuals are included, — a couple major titles, puzzle games, and the sports games. Active Life: Athletic World, set to appear September 9th, and then Don King Presents: Prizefighter, if you include boxing in your perspective of sports, set to come out this month as well, but with no specific date. Strangely enough, cooking games, becoming more and more popular every week, are releasing a couple major titles, such as Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine, and Hell’s Kitchen: The Video Game, both set to appear this month as well.
There will also be a beat taken from the gumshoe games, such as Case Closed: The Mirapolis Investigation, and Detective Conan: Tsuioku no Mirajiyu appearing this month, and then your more neutral puzzle game Solitaire & Mahjong, most like marketed towards adults that don’t exactly revel in the release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, also appearing this month, to the great delight of Star Wars fans everywhere. SimCity Creator is destined to be yet another major hit in the build-your-own world series that is Sims, and will also be appearing this month, for all the big time Sims fans. Which means we can probably expect a few more knock-offs of Sims, moderately priced, in the months to follow.
Some of the other titles appearing this month are:
De Blob
Facebreaker
Heroes Over Europe
Igor
Monster Lab
Pipe Mania
Samba de Amigo
Spore
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
TNA iMPACT!
Wario Land: Shake It!
Wii in August
July 16, 2008 Category: Wii Gaming No Comments »
The coming late summer and fall season is full of new Wii game releases specifically aimed at the back to school audiences, and the month of August is no exception. There’s plenty of sports, fantasy and other games, targeted mainly towards the younger audiences, coming out in August, but not nearly as many titles as there are coming out in the early and late fall months. My guess is, it’s summer in August, and kids are going to be outside as much as they can be. Which is why the best games are marketed to interrupt homework as much as possible. So, pay attention and let us know which ones you’re really counting on.
Sports games are the major event for August, and even Mario is tagging along, with the major Nintendo release of Mario Super Sluggers aka Super Mario Stadium Family Baseball, and to top off the baseball madness, is Little League World Series, also released in August. The baseball titles will be followed up by other sports games such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 All-Play, and Madden NFL 09 All-Play. If football, golf, and baseball don’t do it for you, there will also be two more puzzle/card games to tickle your Wii, such as Margot’s Word Brain, and King of Clubs. The younger audiences will no doubt appreciate titles such as “Defendin’ de Penguin”, and Sam & Max: Season One –you remember, the comic book from 1987 with the dog detective and that weird rabbit thing? They’re soon to be running amok in a living room near you.
For the rest of us, there are staged to be a few more adventure releases, that hopefully won’t turn anyone’s mind into total mush, or force us to learn six new ways to play solitaire. Brave: A Warrior’s Tale for Wii, sounds promising, despite there being some anonymity in regards to what exactly the game is about. Then there’s Brothers in Arms: Double Time, and Rebel Raiders: Operation Nighthawk also set to emerge in August. More army propaganda that will have you ready to join the military after a solid twelve hours of game play.
Find the Latest and Greatest Wii Downloads Here!
