Wii Sports™ Resort Fact Sheet

Wii Sports™ Resort
Format: Wii™
Launch Date: Spring 2009
ESRB: RP (Rating Pending)
Game Type: Sports
Accessories: Wii MotionPlus (included)
Players: 1-4
Developer: Nintendo

KEY INFORMATION
Wii Sports Resort is a new collection of fun sports games that anyone can pick up and play.

• This sequel to the popular Wii Sports™ makes use of the Wii MotionPlus accessory, which gives players the most responsive and realistic experience possible. The Wii MotionPlus accessory, which is included with Wii Sports Resort, plugs into the base of the Wii Remote™ controller and, combined with the accelerometer and sensor bar, provides an experience that gives players an even greater sense of immersion.

• Just as with Wii Sports, people will love competing against friends and family. As the competition heats up, Wii Sports Resort is as much fun to watch as it is to play. First-time players will find it easy to pick up a Wii Remote and jump into the action.

• Wii Sports Resort takes place on a tropical island. A wide range of activities will keep players coming back for one more round. Some sample activities include Sword Play, Power Cruising (racing a water scooter) and Disc Dog, which involves accurately tossing a disc to a cute, Mii-like dog.

Wii Music™ Fact Sheet

Wii Music™
Format: Wii™
Launch Date: Holiday 2008
ESRB: RP (Rating Pending)
Game Type: Music
Accessories: Wii Remote™, Nunchuk™, Wii Balance Board™
Players: 1-4
Developer: Nintendo

KEY INFORMATION
Create a musical masterpiece with up to four players. Anyone can play the huge selection of instruments in Wii Music with simple motions—like strumming and drumming.

• It’s easy to play improv jams. Musicians in your band jam by simply playing their instruments to the beat of a song or by improvising to their heart’s content. Play faster. Play slower. Skip a beat, or throw in 10 more. No matter what you do, Wii Music automatically transforms your improv stylings into great music. There are no mistakes—just playing for the pure joy of playing.

• Wii controls immerse you in the music. You can play most of the 60-plus instruments in Wii Music using simple motions with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers. Strum to play guitar, banjo and sitar. Drum to play jazz drums, congas and marching drums. Hammer away to play piano, vibraphone and marimba. Unlike most music games, Wii Music doesn’t make you use complex buttons. You only need to imitate playing the instrument.

• Wii Music offers virtually endless ways to make music. You choose the song and instruments and decide whether to blaze through a rock take on classical songs, put a jazzy spin on folk tunes or transform Nintendo classics like the Super Mario Bros.® theme into Latin-flavored numbers. The song list is only a takeoff point—it’s how you improvise with the songs that matters.

• Send your band-jam recordings to Wii Friends who have Wii Music. They’ll see your Mii™ band members, your players’ improv styles and your instrument selections. They can watch your recordings, or play over parts of your song, then send their modified recording back to you. Improv jams can be sent back and forth over WiiConnect24 and changed again and again.

Beyond the Jam: Wii Music includes many other modes besides the main band jams, including several musical games and an enhanced video playback mode for recorded jams.

• Play it again: Use the playback mode to see your jam recordings brought to life with dramatic camera angles.

• Pick up the baton: Command an orchestra in the conducting game where you’ll wave the Wii Remote controller like a conductor’s baton to lead a Mii orchestra through orchestrated music. Make them play quickly, slowly, strongly or gently.

• Ring a bell? Play a handbells game where you’ll swing your Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers to play your two handbells as part of a larger ensemble. Everyone on the team has a job to do: Play one of your notes only when the tune demands it.

• An ear for music: Take a tone quiz that tests your musical ear by giving you challenges, like putting note-playing Miis in order from lowest to highest pitch.

• Bang the drum: Play a virtual drum set in the drumming mode, the one mode in Wii Music that also uses the Wii Balance Board accessory (sold with Wii Fit™). You’ll use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers as drumsticks, and place both feet on the Wii Balance Board—which work as virtual pedals for the bass drum and hi-hat cymbal.

Animal Crossing®: City Folk Fact Sheet

Animal Crossing®: City Folk
Format: Wii™
Launch Date: Holiday 2008
ESRB: RP (Rating Pending)
Game Type: Community Simulation
Accessories: WiiSpeak microphone (sold separately)
Players: 1-4 alternating, 2-4 simultaneous via Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection
Developer: Nintendo

KEY INFORMATION
If life were an endless vacation, what would you do? Go fishing, collect shells or watch fireworks with friends? Build a snowman, exchange presents with family or decorate your house for the holidays? Take a trip to the city, go on a shopping spree or visit friends from all over the globe? In Animal Crossing: City Folk, life moves at a relaxed pace, but the world brims with endless possibilities.

• There’s always something new to do. In the living, breathing world of Animal Crossing: City Folk, days and seasons pass in real time, so there’s always something to discover. Catch fireflies in the summer, go trick-or-treating on Halloween or hunt for eggs on Bunny Day. If you’re in the mood for something a little faster paced, take a bus to a new urban city area that’s unique to Animal Crossing: City Folk. There you can catch a show at the theater or check out the sales at Gracie’s boutique. But if you don’t show your face back home for too long, your neighbors will miss you.

• Up to four people from your household can live and work together to build the perfect town. Design clothes and patterns, write letters and post messages on the bulletin board for each other, or invite up to three friends to visit your town using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. With the new WiiSpeak microphone, it’s like you’re all in the same room. The microphone sits atop the sensor bar and picks up the conversation of everyone in the room to encourage a more inclusive experience.

• Get to know your neighbors. The heart of Animal Crossing: City Folk is building relationships with the animals in your town as well as with other players. Befriend your animal neighbors by exchanging letters, gifts and favors. Animals can also move from town to town, bringing their memories and stories from their old towns with them. And since animals are notoriously loose-lipped, they spill all the juicy details.

• Express your personal style. Customize your town, your house and yourself by collecting bugs, fish, fossils, art, furniture, clothes and accessories. You can also go to the salon in the city to change your hairstyle and get a Mii™ makeover. Plus, if you design clothes in the tailor’s shop, animals will wear them and maybe even bring them to other towns.

Mario™ Super Sluggers Fact Sheet

Mario™ Super Sluggers
Format: Wii™
Launch Date: Aug. 25, 2008
ESRB: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief
Game Type: Sports
Players: 1-4
Developer: Namco Bandai

KEY INFORMATION
Let the Wii Remote™ controller be your bat as you join Mario™, Luigi™, Peach™ and the rest of the gang in a rocking, socking baseball extravaganza.
• Newcomers to gaming or sports titles will be up and running on Mario Super Sluggers in no time. Simply swing the Wii Remote to smack a home run, or use a pitching motion to toss the ball over the plate.

• Two, three or four players can pick up Wii Remote controllers and challenge one another to a full baseball game or compete in a host of baseball-themed mini-games. There’s even a home run hitting contest.

• Mario Super Sluggers boasts more than 40 playable characters, all Nintendo favorites. The single-player adventure mode allows the player to explore Baseball Kingdom, tackle dozens of fun baseball challenges and unlock new characters that can be used in any mode. You can also play with your Mii™ characters in Exhibition, Toy Field and Minigame modes.
Modes: Whether by yourself or surrounded by friends, there’s a Mario Super Sluggers game for every occasion.

• Challenge: Trek across Baseball Kingdom in this single-player mode. Defeat characters in a variety of baseball-related challenges to persuade them to join your team. Once you’ve assembled an all-star team for the ages, throw down with the baddest baseballer in town: Bowser™! The single-player Challenge Mode is a sports fan’s dream.
o Explore the rich and varied landscape of Baseball Kingdom as you gather teammates for your fight against Bowser. From lush tropical jungles to modern urban landscapes, each area of the kingdom is a new experience.

o Like high-powered free agents, the characters in Mario Super Sluggers won’t join just any old team—they want to play for a winner. When you find a new character, he or she will test your skills on the field. Only by
besting them in hitting, pitching and fielding contests can you get them to join your side.

o In Challenge Mode, you can control one of five captains, each with personal special powers. Yoshi® can jump through manholes, Wario™ has the power of magnetism and Donkey Kong® can climb vines and shatter barrels.

• Exhibition: Hit the field and try your luck with a team of your choice. You can play against either the computer or up to three other players.

• Minigame: Challenge yourself or take on up to three other players in nine mini-games. From home run contests to pitching duels, you’ll have more fun than a rookie at his first spring training.

• Toy Field: Battle against three other players in a hitting and fielding extravaganza. You can set your turn limit and the skill level of your computer opponents, or just play against friends.

• Training: Learn the ropes in an extensive tutorial mode.
Characters: More than 40 characters from the Mario universe come together in Mario Super Sluggers.

Special powers/items/moves/features: This isn’t your typical baseball game. From special moves to obstacle-filled stadiums, there’s always something new around the corner.

• Special Moves: All of the captains have unique Star Skills that allow them to perform special moves while pitching or batting. Mario can turn his fastball into a fireball, Daisy™ can create a flower garden in the outfield and Luigi can turn infield hits into a raging tornado. Non-captains can also use Star Skills to put a little extra mustard on hits or pitches.

• Chemistry: Just as in real sports, certain characters in Mario Super Sluggers have a special connection on the field. Known as chemistry, this connection allows players to make spectacular leaping catches, gun down speedy base runners and use items to interfere with fielders.

• Stadiums: There are nine unique stadiums in the game, everything from an ice-filled castle to an urban cityscape. Many stadiums can be accessed at both day and night, allowing you to play a doubleheader under the lights.

• Nunchuk™: Experienced gamers can also attach the Nunchuk controller for a more advanced gaming experience.

Wario Land™: Shake It! Fact Sheet

Wario Land™: Shake It!
Format: Wii™
Launch Date: Sept. 22, 2008
ESRB: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief, Mild Cartoon Violence
Game Type: Platformer
Players: 1
Developer: GOOD-FEEL, Ltd.

KEY INFORMATION
Wario™, Nintendo’s greedy, uncouth and rude anti-hero, returns to his roots. The Wario Land series is where Wario first appeared, and it’s back in all its side-scrolling, platform-jumping glory.
• With the Wii Remote™ controller turned sideways, veterans and newcomers alike can run, jump and smash their way through hectic side-scrolling stages. By shaking the Wii Remote, you can shake down your enemies, free coins from treasure bags and even cause earthquakes.
• Each stage is a masterfully crafted side-scrolling obstacle course of puzzles, enemies and assorted hazards. Every stage holds numerous secrets and treasures to discover (and steal). And each stage has multiple “missions” to keep you coming back again and again to unlock everything, collect more coins or just improve your best time.
• Wario returns to form, with all the jumping, power-dashing and butt-stomping we’ve come to expect. This is surly Wario at his finest.

Game storyline: Wario receives an antique globe and telescope that allow him to travel to the once-idyllic Shake Dimension, now conquered by the tyrannical pirate, the Shake King. With the assistance of his longtime rival, Captain Syrup, he must rescue the Merfles, denizens of the Shake Dimension imprisoned by the Shake King. Only by defeating the bosses of all five continents of this strange world can Wario find and confront the Shake King, rescue Queen Merelda, queen of the Merfles, and, most importantly, claim the Bottomless Coin Sack, a never-ending supply of gold.

How to progress through the game: Each stage has Wario navigating an obstacle course of dangers and traps to find an imprisoned Merfle. Once he frees the little fellow, the countdown begins and he must find his way back to the starting gate before time runs out. Wario must also defeat a boss in each continent, and then buy a map of the next
continent from Captain Syrup. Once all five continents’ bosses have been defeated, Wario takes on the Shake King himself.

Characters: Wario, our “hero.” Captain Syrup, a female pirate (and rival from previous games) who aids Wario on his quest. The Merfles, helpless natives of the Shake Dimension, and their queen, Queen Merelda. The Shake King, leader of a ruthless pirate band who has conquered the Shake Dimension.

Special powers/weapons/moves/features: Wario can jump and dash, as per previous Wario Land games. New to this game is the ability to shake the Wii Remote for various effects. By default, a shake of the Wii Remote makes Wario punch the ground, causing a small earthquake and dazing enemies. Wario can then pick up dazed enemies and, with another shake of the Wii Remote, shake them for rejuvenating garlic and occasionally gold. Enemies can also be thrown, and you aim by tilting the Wii Remote.

Wario also takes control of three different vehicles during the course of the game, all of which are piloted in part by tilting the Wii Remote. The controls are standard for a Wii Remote held sideways (D-pad, buttons), but with an important twist: most of Wario’s special moves are accomplished by shaking or tilting the Wii Remote. This allows great versatility but without forcing the player to remember complicated button combinations.

Call of Duty: World ar War Wii and DS Details

Some new info on the Wii and DS version of Call of Duty: World at War have emerged via Nintendic. Rich Farrelly and Noah Heller, are Creative Director and Senior Producer of Treyarch, and talk about the Wii and DS version of Call of Duty: World at War. Hit the jump for all the info.

Wii

• ”The Wii has not been push to it’s limits yet.”
• The Wii version will support everything that has been put into the 360 and PS3 versions.
• There is a secret concerning the co-operative play mode, which is to be revealed at a later stage;
• World at War for the Wii will be using a revised version of the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare engine. Call of Duty 4 with Wii controls? Sounds pretty damn good to me.
• Camera and controls are taking a top priority “For example, if you are climbing on a hill, in a game, you would have to adjust the point of view manually…but that is not as in reality, where you would instinctively look a bit higher over your head. That is the kind of adjustment we have obtained working on cameras on the Wii version;”
• There will be much more fluid movements for the shooting aspect. Sounding any better yet?
• -Once again, Wii Zapper support has been confirmed, although details are currently unclear, yet there will be a case of players doing typical Zapper movements, such as aiming off-screen to reload weapons;
• -The main game runs at a solid 30FPS, with the online element being set at 30FPS as well.

DS

• There will definitely be online play included. Finally. Last years version should of had it!
• The combat system will be improved over last year’s Call of Duty DS title. I never got a chance to play the last one, but I heard some good things about it.
• In terms of the Nintendo DS touch-screen interactions, “We cannot tell you anything, but let me tell you: it is NOT just about cutting the right cable, turning off a device or a bomb… we want you to put your hands in the real war!” Sounds good to me. I might have to buy the DS version with the Wii versions!

Wii Preview: Wario Land: The Shake Dimension

Wario Land: The Shake Dimension is a 2D side scrolling platformer game. It continues the Wario Land series last seen in 2001's Wario Land 4.

Release date: July 24, 2008 (JP)

Plot Info:

Within an Ancient Globe (an old, giant globe exhibited at a museum), there is another world called Yuretopia (translator: "yure" = tremor/shaking). Yuretopia's peace is shattered by the marauding pirate Shay King. Queen Melfull and her Melfull subjects are imprisoned. Not only that, Shay King claims the legendary treasure "Deldel Purse," which spits out coins whenever it is shaken. Captain Maple Syrup, the female pirate, observes Yuretopia's crisis from the outside world. Setting her eyes on the legendary treasure but with no desire of doing the dirty work herself, she steals the Ancient Globe and sends it to Wario. True to form, Wario prepares to raid the beleaguered kingdom when Queen Melfull escapes to the outside world in hopes of finding help. Beseeched by the Queen to become a hero to the kingdom, Wario sets off to Yuretopia where the promise of vast treasures beckons…

Gameplay Info:

- The Wii remote is held sideways with the D-pad being used for movement

- When Wario is near an exclamation mark, shake the controller to send him into a tizzy
- When Wario is infuriated after a good shake, his surroundings will crumble to reveal new paths
- Wiimote shaking also launches Wario out of cannons,
- There will be an 'angry snowball' Wario, as well as Wario on a unicycle
- Goal of each level is to collection 3 treasures

The animation will be handled by Tokyo based Production I.G.
- Captain Syrup will be making a return.

Wii Preview: Mario Super Sluggers

Mario Super Sluggers Features & Specs:

- built on a brand-new engine

- detailed story mode

- 9 stadiums (not clear if there are more to be unlocked)

-4 players (2 vs. 2 / 1 vs. 2 or 1 vs. 3)

- offensive items (attack outfielders with bombs, ect.)

- day/night games

- team stunts in the outfield (Mario jumps on Luigi’s head to catch higher-flying hits)

- Wiimote swing for hits (based on timing/power)

- swing Wiimote to pitch, twist to throw a curve

- Every character has special pitching & batting abilities: Mario throws / hits a massive Fireball, Luigi uses the Tornado Ball, Yoshi has an Egg Rainbow move & Bowser Jr. sends splatters of paint everywhere which hide where the ball is.

- shake Wiimote to run faster, but not necessary

- Mario Stadium : Basic stadium with nothing added
- Wario Fare : (extra features not mentioned)
- Yoshi Park : A Yoshi Train drives through the out field. Hit the Baseball into Warp Pipes as well.
- Smooth Ground Stadium : Ground is slippery / Giant Mr. Freezies are in the out field.
- Chomp Desert : Giant Chain Chomps nip at players in the out field.

Wii Preview: Raving Rabbids TV Party

Raving Rabbids TV Party:
- Mainly supports balance board
- Over 65 new minigames
- Plot: Rabbids take over everything on television
- throughout the story, you’ll play a week’s worth of TV
- 8-player multiplayer
- balance board games designed around making some minigames easier/some more difficult
- some sort of ’sabotage’ feature hinted at
- some minigames are played with your butt via balance board
- Xtreme Sports channel (wildebeest minigame - butt controlled)
- Fashion Rabbidz minigame (poses on the balance board)
- shooting segments - destroy movie sets
- Interactive TV commercials
- Winning player controls “TV remote” in multiplayer
- Shaking, precision, dexterity, balance, rhythm, combos, acting, and stepping minigame categories
- Custom costumes - take photos and send them
- Online leaderboards

Wii Previews: Rock Band Wii

So rock band is coming out on the Wii...played the PS2 version at my cousin's house, pretty fun....

Pros
------
Four parts: Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Drums
Back ground much better than Guitar Hero's
Wii-exclusive tracks

Cons
------
GHIII/Aerosmith controller not compatible
DEAR GOD IT'S FREAKING EXPENSIVE!!!!
No online play (okay Nintendo and developers, enough is enough...)

EDIT by Pikaboo: All Right, the thing with Rock Band for the Wii si that there will be no Downloadable Content. Yes, boo hoo, BUT Harmonix realized the mistake it made and is now offering extra disks that you can purchase for more songs. The only real thing that makes me bug out about this idea is that if you want to play a certain song, but it's on another disk, you're going to have to get up eject the disk and pop in the disk you want to play. This feature will also be available for the Playstation 2. The Wii Version is basically a port of the PS2 version. Rock Band Wii will go on sale June 22, 2008 for $169.99

Wii Preview: Wii Fit

When the Wii was first released, Nintendo said that they wanted a healthier community, and they weren't joking. With the recent (US) price announced at $90, people can really try a healthier and fit lifestyle. The most interesting aspect of WiiFit is the board the comes with it named, the Balance Board. The Balance Board is approximately the size of two bathroom scales next to each other. The Balance Board can also sense how much weight you are releasing on the board. To actually play the game though, you have the calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI). Once you have your BMI, Wii Fit can help you gain or lose weight based on your BMI. Much like the Brain Age series, they also give you an "age" based on its "BMI Ratings". One my favorite parts of the game is that it uses Miis and it can shape its body, almost as if the real thing. The Miis belly can grow bigger and the posture can change as well, such as an arched back. The game itself is almost like a collection of Wii Sports titles, except that it is more based on using the balance board (and wii remotes)on improving health or just plain fun. There will be a collection of yoga games, physical activities (such as push ups and hula hooping), and even a skiing/snowboarding game. Wii Fit is to be released on May 19 in the US.