Wii news that caught my interest - w/c 31st May.

Just so you don't have to search for the news, here is what caught my interest on the Wii news front this week:

The Last Story.

The main characters revealed.

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RPG is my big love when it comes to gaming. More specifically, I love JRPG and unlike some, am far from tired of it. That is why I look forward so much to this Mistwalker game. It has a terrific developer behind it, so I look forward to the arrival of this game.

The latest news is the names of the lead characters. Not big news I know, but still news. The main hero of the game will be Elza, a mercenary with dreams of being a knight. The other is the heroine, Kanan, who appears to be a noble.

Also news on the game is that production time has been extended and a Japanese release may not occur this year.

Mario Kart Wii.

Race in your very own inflatable kart.

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In what could only be described as awesome, if you were still a little kid, comes this inflatable kart that has a steering wheel to attach your wiimote to, for the ultimate racing accessory.

Sure, it is pointless, but if my kids were still 6 years old, I would have considered it, especially at $40 US. Pity there seems no other racing game on the Wii genuinely worth using it for, perhaps excluding Excite Truck and that my arse would probably not fit in it - it is rated to 300lb, so maybe.

Treyarch - Call of Duty: Black Ops

"We are committed to the Wii"

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The story goes that Treyarch has a dedicated Wii team, trying to make the game as similar as possible to the PS3/360 version. This is the 4th Call of Duty game on the Wii and you have to give Treyarch credit here, as they all have been reviewed well and have sold at decent levels.

I personally haven't played any of the games, and part of me assumes it would be better to play it on the 360. However, the joy of using the wiimote as a gun for me is substantial. Maybe as a person who does not play FPS, due to motion sickness, that using the wiimote will be a significant improvement (for me) over the 360 controller (which I really suck at and dislike).

The odd thing about the Call of Duty games is that they never seem to get a decent price reduction on the Wii, unlike the other versions. If I could get it cheap, I may be more willing to give it a go.

This is what Tryarch had to say:

"Whereas we're able to create the same assets that can be used on PC, PS3 and 360,

we actually have to do quite a bit of work on both the technology and assets for Wii. The investment is heavy to get it working on the Wii, but we're committed to it as we were with Modern Warfare, World at War and Call of Duty 3.

"It'll be our fourth Wii shooter. Is there another team that's put out four Wii shooters? There probably is, but certainly not online. And look, we have a huge online fanbase and they're playing it over and over. We obviously want to please that audience - the Wii has been great."

"The Wii community is very vocal," added Community Manager Josh Olin.

"People think that they're just casual gamers and don't go onforums, but they can be very opinionated."

The game will be released alongside the other versions on November 9th.

NHL Slapshot.

EA & Wayne Gretzky bring new peripheral with first NHL Wii game.

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Ignorant comment first up - Wayne Gretzky? He is the Don Bradman (cricket) of Ice Hockey? Clearly I know nothing of this game other than what Emilio Estevez taught me in The Mighty Ducks.

I have never played a computer version of ice hockey, but I imagine you need friends so you can belt the crap out of each other, just like the real thing.

Anyway, more seriously, EA appear to have put some effort into this, as I am sure Wayne Gretzky didn't come cheap as the face on the cover. That peripheral looks odd and I am not sure how comfortable or effective it will be. The game has you starting out as 12 year old "peewees", so maybe The Mighty Ducks isn't too far off. The game arrives on September 9, alongside the PS3/360 versions, but being an American/Canadian sport, I imagine a PAL release may be later.

Guitar Hero 6: Warriors of Rock

Gene Simmons narrates new game.

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The whole guitar game genre is starting to get a little tiring for me. Sure, I enjoy playing, even if I can never make it past medium difficulty level, but most of the worthwhile songs have been done and I am not the biggest fan of "rock". Hell, some of the 70s stuff, hello Ted Nugent, can send me to sleep.

Maybe the addition of of the story and Gene Simmons to guide you through could make all of this worthwhile. What is good though, is that the Wii version has 3 "Roadies" modes that link the DS to the game, using the DS Guitar Hero controllers. I have 2 of those, so maybe I can get some fun out of it.

The game launches September 19, but I am going to wait for a decent price drop on this one. This is some of the track list, which isn't bad - I have made bold those which I genuinely like:

AFI - "Dancing Through Sunday"
Anthrax - "Indians"
Avenged Sevenfold - "Bat Country"
Black Sabbath - "Children Of The Grave"
Buzzcocks - "What Do I Get?"
Children Of Bodom - "If You Want Peace... Prepare For War"
The Cure - "Fascination Street"
Def Leppard - "Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)"
Dethklok - "Bloodlines"
Dire Straits - "Money For Nothing"
DragonForce - "Fury of the Storm"
Drowning Pool - "Bodies"
Fall Out Boy - "Dance, Dance"
Foo Fighters - "No Way Back"
Foreigner - "Feels Like The First Time"
The Hives - "Tick Tick Boom"
Jane's Addiction - "Been Caught Stealing"
Jethro Tull - "Aqualung"
KISS - "Love Gun"
Linkin Park - "Bleed It Out"
Megadeth - "Sudden Death"
Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne - "Paranoid (Live)"
Muse - "Uprising"
My Chemical Romance - "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
Night Ranger - " (You Can Still) Rock In America"
Nine Inch Nails - "Wish"
The Offspring - "Self Esteem"
Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Rammstein - "Waidmanns Heil"
The Rolling Stones - "Stray Cat Blues"
Silversun Pickups - "There's No Secrets This Year"
Slayer - "Chemical Warfare"
Slipknot - "Psychosocial"
Stone Temple Pilots - "Interstate Love Song"
ZZ Top - "Sharp Dressed Man (Live)

Arc Rise Fantasia

Release date pushed back a month.

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Arc Rise Fantasia, a JRPG originally down for a June 20 release in the USA, has been pushed back to July 20. No reason has been given for the delay.

I remember reading a while back that the English dub for this was atrocious. Perhaps, with luck, they are fixing it. While they are at it, maybe they could put the Japanese version back in as well, as sometimes it is seriously preferable to some horrid American acting (no offence intended - I just prefer listening to English actors).

I look forward to this, as it will help with my JRPG bug.

The end of Nintendo.

Masato Kato (Final Fantasy VII) sees the iPad as the end of Nintendo - no really.

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In a bold prediction, Masato Kato (now a freelance writer), has called it - the end of Nintendo:

"With the iPad going on sale, the epoch of Nintendo is finished. But with the DS and Wii, it's been digging its own grave."

I am just going to say, he needs to either up or lower the dose on his medication. Whilst I think that Nintendo won't repeat the success of this generation with the next, it sure as hell will do very well anyway. As for the iPad? I am a Mac man myself and I really can't see that happening at all. It will be a success, but as a games device, not at the mass market level attained by the DS. It is just a completely different demographic.

Samurai Warriors 3

Nintendo publish Tecmo Koei game in Europe.

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Nintendo appear to be getting quite good at publishing major games from other developers and this is usually a good thing. This time it is Samurai Warriors 3 from Tecmo Koei which got a European release last week.

This Wii exclusive is a new story in the series, bringing with it new characters, combat and gameplay. I have never played a game in this series (shocking yes), and it appears that it won't change soon, as the reviews make it look average to say the least (range from 30 to 80, with an average of 56).

Epic Mickey.

New version for E3?

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So, apparently fans were not happy with the original look of the work on Epic Mickey, and the rumour is that it will be shown as completely different in style at E3.

If this is true, I will be disappointed, as I really like the whole steampunk look it had going. They are promising improvements. What that means, we will have to wait for E3 to see. Also rumoured is a September 17th USA release.

It has been so long since Mickey Mouse meant anything to me outside Kingdom Hearts, so I hope they get this right.

Earth Seeker

Scans for a game we appear to know nothing about.

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These cans come from Famitsu and little appears to be known about what kind of game this is, other than being on the Wii. It looks interesting though. Maybe an RPG? I am curious and interested at this stage, but it could be one of those games that never makes it outside Japan.

Wii Party.

Play some clever wiimote minigames.

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This game arrives in July, and as much fun as these Nintendo games are, you have to ask the question, "is too much of a good thing, a bad thing?"

Well, there are over 80 minigames, and thankfully, it does use Motion Plus. Some of the games do sound interesting as well, but you certainly need friends (and probably alcohol), or in my case, children. These games sound interesting:

Wanwan Karuta

The Wiimote for each of four players plays back a different sound. Which sound matches the animal that's shown on screen?

Remote Control Hide and Seek

Hide your Wiimote somewhere in the room and have other players search for it, relying only on the sound made by the Wiimote.

Sensitive Bomb

Hold the Wiimote like a bomb, and try to pass it off to other players without shaking it.

I can see the Nintendo staff up on the stage at E3 already.

Xenoblade.

New characters to look at.

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Juju
Race: Homs, Gender: Male, Age: 13, Height: 153cm

Carne’s brother. After the Colony 6 was attacked, he fled with his brother Carne to a camp outside the city.

Odama
Race:Homs – Gender: Male – Age: 60 – Height: 165cm

Commander of the Colony 6. He protected the city from repeated attacks by the Kishin army.

Gad

Race: Homes – Gender: Male – Age: 26 - Height: 191cm

One of the brave soldiers in Colony 6. He master at using the Ether Rifle.

This RPG is looking very nice indeed and yet another JRPG to look forward to on the Wii.

There you have. That is what caught my eye on the Nintendo Wii news front this week. I hope you found it worth the read and saved you some search time.