Home

    Wii News

    Wiimote kills dog, neighbor brings it back

    January 13, 2009 - 3:36pm


    Ozzy is one lucky pup. When the White family got a Wii this Christmas, it was all fun and games until little Ozzy's life was in danger. See, the dog was hanging around the humans, watching them bowl in Wii Sports, when he jumped up in the way and caught a Wiimote directly to the temple, killing the dog instantly. The Whites called their neighbor Pene over and she gave the dog mouth-to-mouth, saving its life. Over the next few weeks following the incident, Ozzy has thankfully started to mend and be his old self again.There's a video of the segment shown on the local NBC affiliate after the break. Cute doggy, wouldn't you say? [Via Nintendo Everything]

    Rikimaru's turn to impress in Tenchu: Shadow Assassins

    January 13, 2009 - 2:40pm


    Okay, now we're at a crossroads. Last time, we said that Tenchu's Ayame was edging her counterpart Rikimaru out as the ninja to fear in Tenchu: Shadow Assassins. In this latest trailer, Rikimaru delivers his own campaign platform. Between his gravelly, menacing voice (good job, Ubi!), his lightning-fast movements, and, well, all those dudes he kills, he makes a pretty good argument for his own badassery. And at the end of the day, no matter which ninja is cooler, the real winner is ... whoever isn't a guard in feudal Japan.The trailer is after the break for reasons of violent, somewhat bloody content.

    Wooden labyrinth made cooler and more frustrating with Balance Board controls

    January 13, 2009 - 12:50pm

    Some geniuses from Kansas City's "Cowtown Computer Congress", with the help of an Arduino microcontroller and copious amounts of SCIENCE, have added Balance Board controls to a wooden labyrinth toy. Leaning on the board controls the servos attached to the game's two dials, causing the game to tilt in response to the board. It's like The Incredible Maze, but actually incredible! It can also be controlled with an Xbox 360 controller, though that lacks the representative motion element.The whole thing cost about $60 in parts, not including the Balance Board. Of course, that's if you don't already have a couple of servos and an Arduino lying about, which, if you're electronics-savvy enough to carry this out, you probably do.

    CES 2009: Zapper crossbow lets you shoot Gorons in style

    January 13, 2009 - 11:55am


    We were impressed by the "WeeP 5" Zapper mod, but did have one reservation: Link would never use an MP5 to mow down a herd of Stalfoses (Stalfi?). Enter CTA Digital, who were displaying this Zapper crossbow shell at the recently finished CES 2009 (which is strange, because apparently this has been around for a while, but it's the first we've seen of it).This bad boy comes equipped with a laser sight (we seriously question the historical accuracy of this) and, as you can see, a fetching "woodgrain" finish. It looks way, way nicer than the fugly crossbow peripheral we previously covered, and is roughly the same price: a rather eye-watering $29.99.

    'Nintendo Active Health' trademark inspires idle speculation

    January 13, 2009 - 11:00am


    Siliconera's Spencer noticed a trademark in the European trademark database, filed on January 8, for something called "Nintendo Active Health". He correctly eliminated Nintendo's DS walking game Personal Trainer: Walking, which is called Walk With Me: Do you know your walking routine? in Europe.Unfortunately, that leaves us with the problem of what Nintendo Active Health is. It could be an upcoming fitness-based game, perhaps a sequel to Wii Fit; or maybe something with more of an emphasis on other health-related topics besides exercise, like eating habits. Or it could just be an abandoned name for Wii Fit (like "Health Pack") that Nintendo didn't want anyone else using. Less likely, it could be some kind of hardware warranty program, for the health of your console!

    VC Tuesday: Fantasy Zone mark 2: Zoids of Opa Opa

    January 13, 2009 - 10:00am

    We really can't say that this week's Japanese VC lineup is awesome in comparison to North America's, though it does outnumber our single release. Too bad for the Zoids game that we got Castlevania III! Zoids aside, even if the releases aren't Grant Danasty-level cool, they're pretty cool, featuring two side-scrolling shmups in addition to the Zoids strategy game. Fantasy Zone II is the console-only sequel to the original cute-em-up, Fantasy Zone, featuring more of the series' sort of spacey garden take on Defender. If you'd like to try it, Sega produced a System 16-esque remake for the PS2 Fantasy Zone Complete Collection, and distributed a free PC demo!Spriggan mark 2 is a rare side-scrolling shooter from Compile, who made Aleste and MUSHA and Blazing Lazers and lots of other wonderful shooters.

    Two fairly unexciting WiiWare releases join the three VC games. Hudson's SameGame Wii is a new version of the ancient, and frequently cloned, puzzle game, which nerds of a certain vintage will recognize as Sega Swirl. Sugusuro Wii is a detailed simulation of two slot machines, with performance graphs. Woo.

    N-Strike's price Nerfed by GameStop

    January 12, 2009 - 8:08pm

    We've been eager to try out EA's Nerf N-Strike since its October release, tempted as we are by the insane Nerf gun/Wii gun shell peripheral, but the $60 price point has kept us at bay. It is based on a toy license, after all, and $60 is a big risk for that. But $40 is approaching a reasonable price point for the set. Luckily, that is just the price to which GameStop has just marked the bundle down! Now we have to ask ourselves the tough question: if we thought the Zapper was overpriced at $20, is it worth twenty more for a Zapper that we can also bother people with?

    Nintendo Power teases ... Indianapolis?

    January 12, 2009 - 7:11pm


    How does a satellite image of Indianapolis link to imminent Nintendo news? That's the question posed by Nintendo Power's latest "Next Month" teaser. Seemingly yanked straight from Google Maps, this is one of the vaguest hints we've seen from the magazine for some time, and one that has predictably set message boards and comment threads alight.The most popular guess we've seen concerns some kind of Google content appearing on the Wii, which doesn't sound implausible, but is that really worth building hype in this way? Other speculation ranges from a localized Disaster: Day of Crisis to a Pilotwings game to (with absolutely crushing inevitablity) Earthbound. Your speculation, show us it!

    Final Fantasy Cattle Drive Chronicles

    January 12, 2009 - 6:19pm

    The latest update about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, Square Enix's DS/Wii action RPG, shows off some of the extra stuff that can be done in-game with pals. You can get new quests from Stiltzkin the Moogle, who has previously appeared in Final Fantasy IX and both previous Crystal Chronicles games, as well as from people around town.One of the quests shown: wrangling wayward cattle in a dungeon! Your team must use red flags to direct wandering cows to their destination without allowing any of them to get killed. Now that's adventurin'!When not corraling, you'll also be able to play a few multiplayer minigames, including boss rush and some kind of game about getting a floating beach ball into a whirlpool.

    Gallery: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time

    Rumor: Tenchu 4, Broken Sword, Onechanbara, more dated for Europe

    January 12, 2009 - 5:26pm

    A list of 'retailer info' containing release dates for upcoming games popped up on NeoGAF. Judging by the use of the German title for Broken Sword, we decided to try Amazon.de to check these dates against their database, and they match. These dates might be placeholders, and they might be subject to change, or our PALs might have an awesome March to look forward to!Tenchu: Shadow Assassins might actually come out in Europe in the same month as North Americans get to play it: Amazon says it'll be out February 26, alongside Castlevania Judgment. Broken Sword: Director's Cut is listed for March 26, while Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers (retitled, as is the Xbox game, Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Killers) is expected March 18 -- a slight delay from the official date. [Via NeoGAF]