Mega Man 9 for WiiWare

It's been confirmed in Nintendo Power magazine that Mega Man 9 will be heading to WiiWare as a downloadable game.

Fans of the NES originals (Mega Man 2 FTW) will be pleased to know that it's probably a 2D side-scroller. A number of enemies are already known:

Mega Man 9 bossesConcrete ManGalaxy ManHornet ManJewel ManMagma ManPlug ManPoop Man (nah not really)Splash Woman (wait.. what?)

Dr Wily's back, this time the story revolves around him blaming Dr Light for all the robot carnage taking place. Mega Man sets out to clear his creator's name, bringing the real culprit to justice.

Mega Man 9 sets out to be a real homage to the 8-bit classics, you'll control Mega Man using the Wiimote held sideways. The music will also recreate the blips and bloops from an age gone by.

Bravo Capcom, bravo.

Blame it on the Boogie, again

Fans (there must be some) of Wii's first dance-em-up Boogie will be ecstatic to know that EA have a sequel on the horizon, in Boogie Superstar.

This new outing will sport over 40 songs, from artists like:

RihannaFergieKaty PerryMaroon 5Leona LewisAlicia KeysGood Charlotte

Exclusive music will also be included for countries in Europe, to cater for regional tastes.

Early screenshots are available.

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Goo for retail in Europe

According to 2D Boy's Ron Carmel, Europe won't be seeing a WiiWare version for World of Goo as in the US and Japan, but a fully blown disc on store shelves.

"Our European publisher RTL Playtainment is planning to release both the Wii and PC versions as retail titles. We're going to add some extra content to the European version that won't be available in North America or Japan".

Ehehe "playtainment", terrible. No doubt this will cost the Europeans more money (nothing new there), but the added content might sweeten the deal a little. In terms of pricing, apparently it won't be a budget title, but may not be full price either. This is being left up to RTL.

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Nintendo's Wario, Kirby bring the fun; Sleuths get a new Mystery Case Files game

While the game world awaits the E3 Media & Business Summit in Los Angeles next month, Nintendo isn’t waiting to announce new titles for its mushrooming libraries for the Wii console and Nintendo DS. Classic Nintendo characters like bad-boy Wario and pink powerhouse Kirby will star in their own platform games. A new Mystery Case Files game brings the best-selling Big Fish Games franchise to Nintendo DS for the first time. These games join the recently announced Mario Super Sluggers baseball game for the Wii console.

“Nintendo’s game libraries continue to grow at a rapid pace,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Wario stars in a great new platformer, Kirby enthusiasts get an updated version of a fan favorite, there’s a new mystery for Mystery Case Files aficionados and baseball gets a few new Mario-style twists.”

Wario Land: Shake It!, a classic side-scroller for the Wii console launching September 29, stars Wario, the smelly, bad-mannered alter ego of Mario. With the Wii Remote controller turned sideways like an old-school controller, veterans and newcomers alike can run, jump and smash their way through hectic side-scrolling stages. Players shake the Wii Remote to help Wario take down his enemies, empty bags of treasure or cause earthquakes. Best of all, there are numerous stages each offering multiple missions to keep players coming back again and again to unlock everything, collect more coins or just improve their best times.

Kirby Super Star Ultra for Nintendo DS, launching September 29, re-imagines one of the most beloved Kirby games of all time. Kirby Super Star Ultra features new graphics and fully rendered animated cut scenes. With so many adventures waiting to be unlocked, there will never be a dull moment as Kirby runs, floats, copies enemies and uses Helpers to fight King Dedede and Meta Knight. New modes like Revenge of the King and Meta Knight Ultra await, along with classics like The Great Cave Offensive and Milky Way Wishes. On top of the main modes, there are also three new touch-screen-controlled mini-games that can be played with up to three friends via DS Download Play. Not only that, but players can go on Kirby adventures with a friend via local wireless as well.

Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir , launching September 8, uses the unique Nintendo DS interface to expand upon the seek-and-solve game play of the popular series from Big Fish Games. Players seek out cleverly hidden items in a multitude of painted scenes. Players progress through an interactive detective story investigating a cast of characters and uncovering new evidence to find the rightful heir to a million-dollar fortune. This new portable installment is available only for Nintendo DS. With interactive logic puzzles that use both the touch-screen interface and built-in microphone and include the first ever multiplayer mode for a Mystery Case Files game, Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir presents a new generation of seek-and-solve games for casual gamers and franchise fans.

Mario Super Sluggers, launching August 25 for the Wii console, stars the ever-lovable Mario and his crew of friends. It builds on the social-gaming fun and movements people learned in Wii Sports and turns them into a full-fledged baseball game that can be played by every member of the household. Players make a throwing motion with the Wii Remote controller to pitch the baseball and make a swinging motion to swing at the pitch. The game boasts more than 30 playable Nintendo characters and all the madness of a Mario sports game. Just like Mario Kart Wii, it bridges the gap between experienced players and those new to the Wii console, with fun challenges and beautiful graphics.

Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com.

For more information about these and other Nintendo products, visit Nintendo.com.

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Nintendochu, I sue you!

Gaming giants Nintendo were recently sued by Hollywood production company Morgan Creek over a commercial used to promote Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on GameCube.

Anyone who has seen the movie "True Romance" (better than it sounds) will likely remember this commercial's background music from the opening scene. The track known as "You're so cool" was composed by Hans Zimmer especially for the film, and it was claimed that Nintendo used the music without permission.

Only days later however, the lawsuit was withdrawn. Whether they settled out of court, or Nintendo did have the rights after all, is anybody's guess.

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Guitar Hero World Tour DLC on Wii

Good news for GH fans. In a recent interview, the developer of Guitar Hero World Tour on Wii confirmed that downloadable songs will be available.

VV's CEO Karthik Bala had a few choice words to share:

"Guitar Hero World Tour will be the first Wii game to offer downloadable songs through an in-game music store. Players can preview, purchase and download songs using Wii Points. We'll have new tracks available on a regular basis".

Concerned about storage? Worry no more! Songs can be stored in a "rock archive" on SD cards, and used directly from there when needed. To store the music, a compact new format specific to Wii has been developed. The game disc itself will contain 85 tracks, which is a lot of music.

Bala says they were surprised at how many people were playing the Wii version of Guitar Hero 3 online, and the multiplayer this time around has really been fleshed out, with head-to-head modes, co-op modes and online career modes.

"The Wii is definitely a platform that appeals to a wide variety of people. A big part of Guitar Hero's success has come from its accessibility and broad appeal. In a way, it inherently overlaps with the Wii audience and their interests. Having said that, we are working on some Wii specific features that I can't quite talk about just yet".

If you're a Wii owner and into rhythm games, this sounds like it could be a winner.

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Star Wars Lightsaber Duels on Wii

Two new games in the Star Wars series have been announced by LucasArts, one is a Wii exclusive and the other is for Nintendo DS.

Cumbersomely titled Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels, the Wii game ties into the new animated movie, aiming to replicate all the duels seen in it.

Features include:Use the Wiimote to intuitively wield your lightsaber.Play as famous characters with their own styles and skills, e.g. Anakin Skywalker and General Grievous.Use the environment to your advantage, cut down pillars and use Force Throws.Several locations from the Star Wars universe used in-game, such as Tatooine.


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Datel advises Freeloaders not to update

Since Wii Firmware update 3.3 blocked Freeloader, importers have felt uneasy. Datel, makers of the Freeloader disc, have come out with an official response:

"Please note, due to circumstances beyond our control Wii Freeloader is not compatible with latest version Wii firmware 3.3 and higher, just released (released as an online update 17/06/2008)".

"You can continue to use Wii Freeloader perfectly with any Wii console running firmware 3.2 and below. If you upgrade to Wii firmware 3.3 or higher this WILL disable the Freeloader function and it will stop working for all future use on all import games".

That being the official word, perhaps we can't expect a new 3.3-compatible Freeloader for a while.

For shame Nintendo, for shame.

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Escape the Museum

Publishers Majesco have announced a new Wii title coming later this year, Escape the Museum. No, it's nothing to do with that movie you're thinking about.

Based on an existing PC game, EtM tells the story of an earthquake and a woman named Susan becoming trapped in a museum. Overcoming alarm systems, rubble, and other hazards, she must escape the building. Some words from Majesco's Liz Buckley:

"Although an incredibly successful PC genre, the hunt and find adventure category has yet to be introduced on Wii. Escape the Museum's online success coupled with category opportunity and an attractive price point make this an ideal title to bring to market".

She's not wrong about the price, it's going to retail for $19.99.

Puzzles and exploration play a big part in the game. As you make your way through the museum, you'll use the Wiimote to uncover exits and save artifacts.

"Escape the Museum" should be out in time for the holiday season.

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Nintendo working on storage

Laurent Fischer from Nintendo's European division has said the company are actively looking into a storage solution.

"We definitely detect that gamers are serious and we know there is an issue in this, so it's something that we're working on. Definitely there's no plan to issue hardware, an external hard drive, but we know that we have an issue in that area".

So Nintendo won't be releasing a hard disk, but they could potentially add support for other manufacturers. Or will this solution be based around stronger support for SD cards?

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Mario Super Sluggers gameplay footage

Footage of someone playing Mario Super Sluggers in Japan has appeared on YouTube.. and it's a pretty slow news day so far.

You might want to skip the first two minutes (other than to check out the character select screen), for some reason the guy takes forever to get the game started.

I'm not crazy for sports games, but this does look quite fun.

Mario Super Sluggers is the spiritual successor to Mario Superstar Baseball on GameCube, which most people seem to speak highly of.

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NPD sales for May 2008

May's console sales figures are in, as determined by NPD (covering the US only). Nintendo takes the lion's share once again.

Wii - 675,100DS - 452,600PS3 - 208,700Xbox 360 - 186,600PSP - 182,300

In terms of games, Big N made a strong showing there too, with seven out of the top ten based on a Nintendo platform. Although GTA4 is at the top, Mario Kart Wii isn't far behind.

GTA IV (360) - 871,300Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 787,400Wii Fit (Wii) - 687,700GTA IV (PS3) - 442,900Wii Play (Wii) - 294,600Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 171,100Iron Man (PS2) - 130,600Guitar Hero 3 (Wii) - 116,800Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (DS) - 107,000Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (DS) - 102,000


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Rabbids do Euro 2008

Using the vibe from the Euro 2008 soccer tournament, Ubisoft has released a video clip promoting Raving Rabbids TV Party.

There are also some art stills, some of which I think I recognize, some not.

David Beckham?

Not sure.

France's manager.

Don't know.

Rabbids invading the airwaves

Firmware update blocks Freeloader

Those wily cats at Nintendo have issued firmware update version 3.3. According to reports, the sad upshot for importers is that the current Freeloader disc no longer works.

If you've imported some games from other countries like me, you might want to hold off on updating your Wii until you're done with them.

A glitch in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess used by the homebrew scene has also been patched up.

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SNK classics Wii-bound

Publishers SNK are releasing a compilation disc, SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1. It contains sixteen of their classics from the arcade days, although many of these are already available through the Virtual Console.

Art of Fighting (1992)Baseball Stars 2 (1994)Burning Fight (1991)Fatal Fury (1991)King of the Monsters (1991)Last Resort (1992)Magician Lord (1991)Metal Slug (1996)Neo Turf Masters (1996)Samurai Shodown (1993)Sengoku (1991)Shock Troopers (1997)Super Sidekicks 3 (1995)The King of Fighters '94 (1994)Top Hunter (1994)World Heroes (1992)


Happy WiiWare day!

Crackin' safes, watchin' the game

Another point and click style game is being ported from the PC to Wii, this time it's Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure.

The overly descriptive title says it all, it's a puzzle game where you must crack open safes. Before the inevitable chants of 'shovelware' begin though, it's worth noting this game was critically well received. PC Gamer magazine even gave it the accolade "Puzzle game of the year" in 2006.

There's also a box art for us to gawk at.

Doesn't get much simpler than that hey! Or maybe it does.

Safecracker is expected to come out in November. I'm quite into puzzles recently (Professor Layton + Toki Tori), so this might be one I'd pick up.

Picross coming to WiiWare

Jockey on the Wii Board

Koei have announced another G1 Jockey game for Wii. The first title was reasonable well liked, but this aims to take jockeying to a whole new level - using the Wii Balance Board!

Koei's Executive Vice President, Naoki Katashima commented:

"With G1 Jockey we have always strived to recreate the full horse racing experience in the most realistic and enjoyable way possible. The Nintendo Wii and now the Wii Balance Board have enabled us to continue our desire to bring every facet of this fascinating sport into the homes of passionate horse racing fans and gamers who want to enjoy a sporting experience like no other".

G1 Jockey Wii 2008 (possibly a working title) has a fully fleshed out career mode, where you can go from novice to... horsing superstar. You can also breed horses at your stables, turning out thoroughbreds or just a bunch of nags.

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Introducing Pyroblazer

UK developers Candella Software have released a new trailer, showing off their latest shoot-em-up title Pyroblazer.

Set in the extreme future, naturally everything is shiny and/or made of plasma. The game has you racing along courses in your ship (known as a Blazer), blasting the opposition in an effort to reach first place and win cash prizes. As you progress through, you'll get the chance to update your machinery.

Pyroblazer is also heading to PC, that version is expected to release this month. No information on the Wii date is available.

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NHL hockey on Wii

Hockey fans finally have something to cheer for, 2k, the sports division of Take-Two has announced NHL 2K9. This is the first NHLPA licensed hockey game for the Wii and of course, you will get the chance to use the Wiimote as a hockey stick. 2K president Christoph Hartmann spoke:

"It's our goal this year to bring the fun back to hockey video games. NHL 2K9 for Wii includes the full feature set as available on other platforms, and added Wii Remote controls and other exciting features specific for the Wii console will allow dedicated fans the opportunity to fully enjoy and embrace NHL hockey in a brand new experience".

NHL2K9 is expected for release during the third quarter of 2008. So until then, get the puck out of here.

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Resident Cheer

Ready for some box art? Below is the Japanese cover of Resident Evil Zero, which is a port of the GameCube version. There are currently no plans to release this outside Japan.

Gimme a W! an I! an I! All Star Cheer Squad aims to fill you full of pep.

Additionally, UK retailer HMV seems to have secured itself a unique box art for Okami.

Spyro in hospital

Wiimote game for the blind

Developers at MIT have revealed a new gaming experience called AudiOdyssey. It runs on the PC platform, but has the option of using a Wiimote too if Bluetooth is available.

Most interestingly, AudiOdyssey is a game aimed at blind and partially sighted people, trading high-end graphics for immersing audio instead.

Players assume the role of a fictional DJ named "Vinyl Scorcher". Gameplay revolves around creating layered beats to impress a crowd, this is done by swinging the remote in time.

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Rune Factory 3 coming to Wii

The Rune Factory franchise is now 2 games old, and a third is on its way. For the unfamiliar, the game's designer Yoshifumi Hashimoto describes the series as:

"Harvest Moon where you wield a sword".

That'll teach those lousy crops not to grow. The first two games were released on the DS handheld and did well in reviews, but the third will be hitting Wii, in Rune Factory: Frontier. This was announced by publishers Marvelous in the latest edition of Famitsu.

No release date is set, but Rune Factory: Frontier is expected this year.

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Dokapon Kingdom from Atlus

Guess who that is? That's right, it's Princess Penny. She features in a new game published by Atlus on Wii - Dokapon Kingdom.

It's selling itself as an RPG-meets-board-game for up to four players. There's a trailer, box art and a number of screenshots already available.

Dokapon Kingdom comes out in the US during October. Yay or nay?

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Capcom spying on Wii users

At Captivate 08, a media event held by Capcom, a new game exclusive to the Wii has been announced. Spyborgs is an offbeat action title with cartoon sci-fi stylings.

Each level sees two characters working together in order to reach the goal, so it's recommended that gamers play in pairs for the best experience. Solo players are accommodated too though, with computer AI controlling the second character.

Spyborgs is in development by a relatively new group called Bionic Games. Mike Stout is heading the project and commented:

"We want to be on the Wii - we don't want to port over a game like everyone else. Most of the games on the Wii are ports or micro-games and we think gamers are getting sick of that".

Too true. No release date for Spyborgs is known yet, but expect it sometime in 2009. Early screens are available.

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Spyro in hospital

Some fresh Wii box arts, targeted to the North America region.

For a lot of people, Spyro games are no longer anything to get excited about. Nevertheless he's still carrying on, in Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon.

Duck and cover!

And this is Zoo Hospital. Yea.

If that scene was real there'd be carnage.

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Super Mario RPG for Japan's VC

On Japan's official Virtual Console page, Nintendo has announced that Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars will be available for download sometime this month.

Good news for fans of the game, of which there are many. When Nintendo Power conducted a poll for Virtual Console requests, Super Mario RPG featured highly in the results.

Note however that this doesn't necessarily mean it's coming to the US. The same goes for PAL regions, where the original was never even released. Keep those fingers crossed.

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Toki Tori flaps into the US

Two new WiiWare games became available to download in the US this morning.

Toki ToriProtothea

In celebration, Toki Tori developers TwoTribes have released another commercial promoting the game.

Check back Friday to see what's released in Europe and Australia.

WiiWare launch titles in Europe