News Finally – You Can Now Play Imports On Your Wii
Wii Freeloader Arriving In March - hurrah!
Review Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)
Not Kirby's finest hour
Review River City Ransom (NES)
Big trouble in River City
Review Operation Wolf (Virtual Console / NES)
Operation initiated! Rescue the prisoners!
Review Lords of Thunder (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Lords of Thunder is a side-scrolling shooter that has you take on the role of a legendary warrior, blasting enemies to heavy-metal tunes.
Review 42 All-Time Classics (DS)
The problem with compilations is that as a general rule of thumb, they tend to feature a handful of good games, with the rest being a load of all tat just there to make up the numbers or act as padding.
News - February, 2008
Friday29th Feb 2008
News Defend Your Castle Dated - Screens Also Released
X-Gen Studios has revealed that Defend Your Castle will launch alongside the North American WiiWare service on 12th May 2008. The company has already launched a dedicated page for the game and some interesting looking screenshots.
The graphical style is interesting indeed, with a cool 'scrapbook' effect. We expressed our concerns about this game...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - March 2008
You thought last month's schedule in Japan was underwhelming? Then you obviously haven't seen this one yet! There's not much variety this month - Only 4 systems get new games. The Nintendo 64, Mega Drive and Neo Geo all miss out this time. Only two potential new games for the rest of the world are revealed - Most of the others weren't released outside Japan.
Japanese VC list - March 2008: Famicom: Metroid (March 3rd) Star Luster (March 3rd) City Connection Joy Mecha Figh...
News MSX to Hit Japanese Virtual Console in May
The two upcoming MSX titles Japan was getting, Eggy and Aleste, had a date of "2007, after fall" slapped on them around last summer. When 2008 came creeping around the corner they still weren't released though! They actually kept that date throughout the first two months of this year as well!
The MSX was extremely popular in Japan - The...
Thursday28th Feb 2008
News Finally – You Can Now Play Imports On Your Wii
Wii Freeloader Arriving In March - hurrah!
Those of you that graduated to the Wii from the GameCube will probably be aware of Datel’s excellent Freeloader disc, which allows you to play import games on your Cube console. Well, after months of silence the company has now announced that it’s producing a version for the Wii – and amazingly, it...
News First Official Images of the New Neo-Geo Stick for Wii
SNK has published official images of the forthcoming Neo-Geo stick, and the good news is that it looks exactly the same as the original AES joystick we all know and love.
The classic design, first seen with SNK's Neo-Geo home system almost 20 years ago, arguably ranks as one of the most iconic controllers in the history of videogaming. Back in the...
News Hitachi And Sharp In Illegal DS Screen Cartel?
Shock! Horror! Hold the front page!
Scandal has rocked the very foundations of the Japanese consumer electronics industry as Hitachi and Sharp – the two companies tasked with producing those lovely little screens you have on your DS – found their offices raided by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission on suspicion of fixing the price of said...
News Worst Trailer Ever: SEGA Bass Fishing
Usually trailers try to lure us all into subconsciously deciding we can't do without a certain game. SEGA Bass Fishing's trailer has the opposite effect.
Reasons why this trailer is so, so bad: The two people sitting in a boat are poorly "stuck" onto a video game background. Why? The annoying country "cock" rock pisses me right...
News EU VC Releases - 29th February - Super Turrican
Let's get this out of the way first - Sadly, there are no 3D games involving a pink puffball for Europe available this week.
What is available, however, is Factor 5's SNES blaster, Super Turrican. It got rated long ago, in mid-2007, so fans of the series (Which has achieved cult status) were wondering where the heck the game was. Worry no more...
News Family Ski Japanese Advert - Balance Board Compatible
Family Ski is Namco's attempt to bring all the fun of skiing - to the Wii.
Four player racing and Wii Balance Board support will be the highlight of the game although there is no official word when (or if) the game will make it to British shores. If it does we're expecting some kind of budget release. Now please hurry up and announce you're working...
News No Resident Evil Zero. Darn You Capcom!
Eurogamer.net have been informed there will be no European release for Resident Evil 0 on the Wii.
Following on from our story yesterday, Capcom have sent out this heartbreaking email: "We currently have no plans to bring the Wii version of Resident Evil 0 that you saw in Famitsu yesterday to either US or Europe at this point in time," a...
News Sony Continues To Be Nintendo’s Bitch In Japan
Wii outselling the PS3 by 4-to-1
Since the dawn of the new year Sony fans have been constantly twittering on about how “2008 is the year of the PS3” and that the console will have “doubled its installed user base” by the year end (which isn’t that hard when you consider how poorly it performed in 2007). Sales figures from January seem to...
Wednesday27th Feb 2008
News Resident Evil 0 Is Coming To Wii?
Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen might be gearing up for a Wii release according to a report from Japanese "Bible" Famitsu.
Resident Evil 0 was an exclusive title for the GameCube way back in 2003 and filled in the events that happened before the "mansion incident" in Resident Evil (1). It follows the disappearance of the Bravo team and...
News Mario Kart Wii Will Have Text Chat But No Voice Chat!
Which means you don't get a bunch of rowdy Americans asking if you're "Australian" or if you've "brushed your teeth today"?
You will not be able to chat in the actual games themselves (well you wouldn't be able to anyway unless you had 15 arms right?) but you will be able to create "lobbies" in which you can chat amongst your mates while...
News “Street Fighter IV Could Potentially Come To Wii”
Producer hints at a possible Nintendo version
Capcom’s forthcoming 3D ‘reboot’ of the Street Fighter series may be dividing opinion all over the globe thanks to its unique visual style but producer Yoshinori Ono is confident the end product will be a success and commented that in his opinion the game could ‘potentially’ arrive on the Wii...
News Sony Boss Praises Wiimote Design
Surprising support from the (soon to be departed) Sony exec
Nintendo’s controller design philosophy has found an ally from the most unlikely of courses – former Sony head man Phil Harrison. Harrison, who is soon to part company with the Japanese electronics firm after 15 years of service, commented that modern videogame controllers are simply...
Tuesday26th Feb 2008
Review Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (N64)
Not Kirby's finest hour
Since the first Kirby game, we've seen our puffy pink friend in a series of high quality platform adventures (not to mention spin-offs) up until the release of Kirby 64 back in 2000. Despite predictably rendering Kirby's world in 3D for the first time, true to form for a N64 outing our pals at HAL Laboratories have retained...
Review Psychosis (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
This is a side-scrolling shooter played in a world created from the mind of a twisted demon.
The PC Engine/TG-16 is a machine that is famous for its wide and diverse range of shooting titles, but Psychosis (also known as Paranoia in Japan) is one title that you might not be familiar with, despite the fact that it was deemed worthy of a Western...
News More C64 Details Emerge - Keyboard Input, Loading Times
We've been contacted by a mysterious insider who insists he’s on the team that is currently preparing the new C64 channel, which was officially confirmed last week.
Here are some of the things he's spoken about so far: Each C64 joystick port is individually mapped to each Wii device (be that Wii Remote, Classic Controller, or GC Pad) A popup...
News Everyones Pokemon Channel
Previously known as Pokemon Ranch, Nintendo's Pokemon WiiWare release has been renamed.
According to information translated by the genius behind GoNintendo.com the ranch will be owned by Yukari, a friend of Bebe from Pokemon Diamond/Pearl. You'll be able to upload Pokemon from your DS into the Wii, storing up to 1,000 in the ranch. You can then also...
News Everyone's Pokemon Ranch - WiiWare - New Details
The official website for the upcoming Pokémon-themed WiiWare title, Everyone's Pokemon Ranch, has been given an update.
A few new details on the WiiWare project: Renamed Everyone’s Pokémon Ranch (was Pokémon Farm) Transfer Pokémon from Diamond and Pearl, storing up to 1000 creatures on the Wii. Interact with your Poké-friends through...
News Defend Your Castle Coming to WiiWare
XGen Studios has announced that its successful Flash-based game Defend Your Castle is WiiWare-bound and will launch alongside the new service in May (North America) at a cost of 500 Wii points.
As the title suggests, the game involves you defending your castle against hordes of attackers. You can do this by grabbing them and flinging them skywards -...
News Master System games hit the Japanese VC
Japanese Wii owners will no doubt be rubbing their hands with glee as the first Sega Master System game is released in their region today.
Sadly its not the greatest game to grace Sega's 8-bit wonder, Fist of the North Star (Black Belt to you!) wouldn't have been my first choice for the system! In celebration of this monumental occasion why don't...
News Update: Nintendo Puts Things Straight On European Brawl Release
It seems that 1up's recent podcast suggesting Brawl has been delayed until Autumn in Europe isn't exactly true.
While recounting some of the info that I learned from Nintendo of America's President & COO, Reggie Fils-Aime, I implied that the European release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl had been moved to the fall of 2008...that's not quite...
Monday25th Feb 2008
News Uh-oh! Wii Pay And Play...
Nintendo are to introduce new extensions to the Nintendo Wi-Fi experience that come with an additional charge. Sammy's not a happy chappy.
During Nintendo's presentation at the Games Developers Conference in San Francisco last week, Takashi Aoyama explained that they will begin "collecting fees for some services will allow us to adapt...
News Reggie: "No European Brawl 'Till Autumn"
Cue: disgruntled, spoiled British gamers stating "Nintendo Wii is teh shite" because we get Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit early to compensate.
In a recent interview with Reginald "Better Than Microsoft's Shane Kim" Fils-Aime on 1-UP.com's podcast he stated: Interviewer: "In terms of us [North America] getting Wii Fit and Mario Kart...
Sunday24th Feb 2008
Review Asterix at the Olympic Games (Wii)
Asterix joins the race for Olympic glory, can he and Obelix gain the gold medal?
With Beijing hosting this years summer Olympic games it was no surprise that a number of Olympic themed games have appeared on this years calendar. Atari must of been kicking themselves when SEGA released Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, pretty much claiming all...
Review Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (Wii)
Sonic, grab your hoverboard there's a race to win!
Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off racing series, Sonic Riders, returns in the form of "Zero Gravity", a sequel to the 2006 original. Unlike your standard racing game, SRZG actually has quite alot of story. Sonic and friends have been alerted about crazed robots from "MeteorTech"...
News Inside the Mind of Luc Bernard - Eternity's Child Interview
Eternity's Child is the product of the wild and wacky mind of artist Luc Bernard. It's shaping up to be one of the more promising WiiWare releases and is certainly getting a lot of attention thanks to its lush visuals and unique setting.
We caught up with Luc and popped a few questions his way regarding this innovative platform adventure. WW:...
News SEGA Recruit Sonic Fans Help
SEGA need your help, instead of making all the decisions themselves they are turning to you loyal Sonic fans to help influence the upcoming Sonic RPG on DS, The Dark Brotherhood.
SEGA Europe today revealed that they are to allow fans the chance to help name one of the all new enemy races in the highly anticipated Sonic the Hedgehog RPG adventure,...
Saturday23rd Feb 2008
Review River City Ransom (NES)
Big trouble in River City
Street Gangs — known as River City Ransom in North America — is a strange game. It's one of many in the extremely popular Japanese "Kunio-kun" series, which started in the arcade and is still going strong today, with the latest instalment being on the DS. Every game in the series has the same main character, Kunio, but...
News Super Mario Galaxy - SNES Edition
Oh how we love people with too much time on their hands, check out this impressive vision of what Super Mario Galaxy would of looked like if it was developed for the SNES, brilliant!
Nintendo take note, the SNES still has legs! This excellent video was brought to you via those nerdy Nintendo Wii Fanboys. Brilliant.
News US VC Releases - 25th February - Kirby 64
American NES fans were no doubt a little jealous at Europe for getting River City Ransom last Friday - But no worries, while you aren't getting RCR on Monday, you'll get something else that's also wanted by many people and isn't out in Europe yet.
Japan got Custom Robo V2 as their latest Nintendo 64 game, so some people thought the rest of the world...
Friday22nd Feb 2008
News Out Today - Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
Sonic's latest Wii adventure blasts onto our screens in the form of Sonic Riders sequel, Zero Gravity.
"In Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Sonic takes on to futuristic-inspired tracks and travels as far as outer space to push the limits of speed even further. Two new unique gravity control moves will allow players to outrace opponents while...
Thursday21st Feb 2008
News Commodore 64 coming to Virtual Console
Regular readers will remember that quite some time ago we reported on C64 games coming to the VC. We ended up with egg on our face as it turned out to be some sort of mistake on Nintendo's Norwegian website and no more details about this ever materialised.
It is now the turn of Nintendo's Finnish site to break the news about C64 games coming to the...
Review Transformers: Autobots (DS)
I, like most other Transformers fans was pretty upset to hear that my “backpocket interest” was to be thrust into the mainstream once again.
Having loved The Transformers since I was very young sometimes it’s pretty irritating hearing all the tweens talking about something you’ve loved so much longer than them. It must be some kind of...
Review Transformers: Decepticons (DS)
Transformers: Decepticons is practically the same game as the Autobots edition told from the angle of the “evil” Starscream as opposed to the “heroic” Optimus Prime.
All the gameplay flaws are present (see our review of Transformers: Autobots for the full details) the only difference being you are treated with a whole new set of cut-scenes...
News EU VC Releases - 22nd February - Street Gangs
Two classic NES games join the European Virtual Console library today! First up we have Street Gangs (River City Ransom in the USA). This is a scrolling beat-em-up in the same vein as Double Dragon, but it is also much more! The characters are all in Japanese super deformed manga style for starters. It’s not as shallow as your average beat-em-up either, there are some basic RPG elements on offer here: you have an inventory, can buy and sell items, and you can learn new abilities and skills. The co-operative play is also really good in this game, so it comes highly recommended from the VC:R team.
...
News More Wii Fit Balance Board Games To Come
According to Reggie Fils-Aime (Nintendo Legend) there are over "ten games" in development that take advantage of the Wii Balance Board. Not just the one trick pony it's been labelled as then?
According to Tech.co.uk Shigeru Miyamoto had the idea of a balance board long before the Wii (and Wii Fit) even came into existence. Miyamoto came up with the...
News Commodore64 Is Coming To Virtual Console
I didn't really expect this. I bet you didn't expect it either, did you? Commodore 64 (the best selling computer model of it's time) is set to bring it's host of classic 80's video games to the Wii's Virtual Console. And you thought the Mario Kart Wii news yesterday was exciting.
Bala Keilman, CEO of Commodore Gaming said: "The massive impact...
Wednesday20th Feb 2008
News Five GameCube Games That Should Come To Wii
Wiivival
Given the GameCube's wonderful back-catalogue, here are five games we'd love to see come to the Wii. The PlayStation 2 had already run away with the “console war crown" a good year or so before the GameCube's launch and Nintendo's box never really packed any kind of punch worthy enough of denting Sony's dominance. With Microsoft...
News WiiWare dated for US, three titles officially announced
A Nintendo of America press release went out today, and it has officially dated WiiWare. The service will launch in the US on May 12th, with a number of games being available right at launch (The press release doesn't state which games those are).
The press release also officially announces three games (One we already knew of, two new), namely Final...
First Impressions World of Goo
Our new found friends at 2D Boy were kind enough to provide the team at WiiWare World with a playable demo of the first level of their upcoming game World of Goo. Whilst it’s not 100% confirmed to be a downloadable WiiWare game yet, the guys at 2D Boy are expected to spill the beans soon on if this is the case, or not.
Having only seen a few press...
News Wii Fit Confirmed For April Release
Nintendo Europe have this morning announced that Wii Fit will be launching Europe on April 25th.
Nintendo’s new, unique and innovative application for Wii, which is hoping to get all across Europe moving their whole bodies - Wii Fit, is set to launch across Europe on April 25th 2008. Since its launch in Japan on December 1st 2007, Wii Fit has...
News Mario Kart, Wii Fit And Smash Bros. Dated
Deciding to get their arse into gear for once Nintendo of Europe actually made some announcements the people wanted to hear.
Mario Kart will be released on April 11th in Europe, one day after the Japanese version gets a release. The game will take the Mario Kart series onto Nintendo Wi-Fi for the second time (Mario Kart DS being the first to feature...
Tuesday19th Feb 2008
Review Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
One sequel too many
Ninja Gaiden is practically a household name now thanks to the fantastic Xbox title and the very promising (not to mention gory) next-gen sequel. The NES original is still fairly well known and fondly remembered, but the two 8-bit sequels are more obscure. If you’re one of the many people that weren’t aware of this third NES...
News DJ Hero In The Pipeline? Chica-chica.
Activision are planning a spin-off to their ridiculously popular series, Guitar Hero.
According to CVG Activision have filed a trademark for a game titled "DJ Hero". The trademark reads: "Computer game software and related instruction manual sold together as a unit; interactive video game programs; computer game discs; downloadable...
News Eternity's Child - New Screens and Soundtrack Online
As the release of Eternity’s Child gets ever closer, Luc Bernard has kindly published some more rather excellent-looking screens as well as putting sections of the official soundtrack online. What a kind fellow he is.
The screens look promising and confirm what we already know: the game is looking gorgeous. However, the soundtrack is the real...
Monday18th Feb 2008
Troubled Soccer Star loves a bit of Nintendo
He may be more famous for his hilarious antics (such as crying like a baby, drinking lots of booze and allegedly slapping his wife about) than actually playing football, but Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne is still seen as something of a legend by English soccer fans. The former Spurs and England star is...
News “Everything In Moderation” Says Nintendo
The Big N responds to internet scare-stories
Nintendo has responded to negative comments regarding the implications of playing too much Wii by insisting that the machine is perfectly safe, so long as players don’t “overdo it”. The advice came from the lips of Nintendo PR-guru Anka Dolecki and was intended to counter the flood of complaints...
News Mario Kart Wii To Hit Europe On April 25th?
Online store seems to think so
Online retailer Play.com has sparked a shockwave of excited fanboy chatter by listing Mario Kart Wii’s European release date as April 25th. Nintendo’s previous date for the game was the somewhat vague “Q2 2008”, and a spokesperson for the company has insisted that Play.com is merely guessing at a possible...
Sunday17th Feb 2008
Review Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS)
Mario and Sonic are back sooner than you think in the DS version of SEGA's biggest hit in 10 years.
With Beijing only a few months away SEGA (finally) bring us the handheld dose of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, a game that wasoriginally to be released along side the Wii version in November. Better late than never, that's what we say. Mario...
Saturday16th Feb 2008
Review Phantasy Star II (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Hailed as one of the greatest games of all time by fans
The original Phantasy Star never really had the impact it deserved, mainly thanks to the fact that its host platform - the Sega Master System – failed to sell in significant numbers in the US. The series would have to wait until the introduction of the Genesis/Megadrive before it would gain...
News US VC Releases - 18th February - Ninja Gaiden III
There’s a bit of a surprise this week for North American Virtual Console fans - seemingly out of nowhere comes Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden III.
We’ve already had the first two Ninja Gaiden NES titles and this release completes the trilogy, but sadly it also turns out to be the weakest of the three in terms of gameplay. This game is so frustrating it...
Thursday14th Feb 2008
News EU VC Releases - 15th February - Sega Week - Phantasy Star II
In a rather welcome change of pace, this week finally sees more than one new release in Europe. It also brings back Sega Week, which was strangely absent in January (Well, unless you count a single Mega Drive game as a Sega Week).
The obvious top pick today is Phantasy Star II, a rather well-known Mega Drive RPG which has been rereleased a bunch of...
News WiiWare Focus: Interview with Nnooo (Pop)
Our coverage of the upcoming WiiWare service continues with this exclusive interview with Nic Watt of Nnooo, the small indie studio behind the promising Pop. We caught up with Nic and grilled him on this forthcoming release - here's what he had to say...
WW: How did the concept for Pop come about? NW: Since the Wii was announced I have been thinking...
News XBOX 720 And Wii2 In 2010? ZOMG!
Analyst of Pacific Crest Securities, Evan Wilson believes that Nintendo and Microsoft will ready new home consoles for release in 2010.
When talking to GameSpot about EA's problems Evan also went on to state that he believes Nintendo and Microsoft will stick to the five year console cycle in this generation. "We believe that peak industry...
Wednesday13th Feb 2008
Feature Global Inequality on the Virtual Console
Time for change?
In the early days of the Virtual Console it looked likely that although timing differences existing between US and European releases, most (if not all) games would make an appearance in both regions. However, as the US passes the 200 game mark (leaving Europe trailing at 187) we’re seeing a massive disparity between the software...
EA have teamed up with Hasbro to create a new Wii and DS game called "Nerf N-Strike".
Nerf N-Strike claims to be "the first Nerf blaster action game" whereby "players can wreak havoc and perfect their blasting skills or challenge friends to clashes with both single and multi-player game modes". Not very exciting then? Wrong...
Tuesday12th Feb 2008
News "Wii Prototype" Goes Unsold On EBay
Well I thought this was funny. Really funny infact. You are welcome to disagree.
From eBay.co.uk Many years ago in a deserted Japanese airfield there lived 10 Nintendo scientists. Their job? To create a fun, entertaining next generation console - they succeeded. Unfortunetly for them they all had to be vapourised - this was so no other competitor...
Feature The Great Internal Memory Debate
With over 200 games currently available on the Virtual Console service and the impending arrival of WiiWare, one thing seems to be concerning a vast number of Wii owners (if the comments on VC:R are anything to go by) and that’s internal memory storage.
The Wii comes equipped with just 512MB of internal storage for things like game saves, Virtual...
News Smash Bros. Brawl to get WiiWare Portal?
We’ve gotten wind of rumours that suggest that Super Smash Bros. Brawl may be granted its own WiiWare channel in order to distribute new content and features.
The proposed name for the service is “Smash Bros. Brawl: Challenger” and the content in question is said to include new stages, characters and music. These items will cost Wii points to...
News WiiWare Focus - Interview with Medaverse (Gravitronix)
Jesse Lowther, lead designer and CEO of Medaverse Studios was kind enough to spill the beans to WiiWare World regarding the latest developments with their upcoming WiiWare title Gravitronix.
Having nailed their colours to the mast and taking the bold step of launching their first game at 500 Wii Points (the price of an NES game) we have to admit to...
News Factor 5 Speak About Secret Wii Project
Julian Eggebrecht spills the beans, but still no name as yet
They won’t reveal the name of the top secret project they’re working on, but those fine chaps at Factor 5 have still given us a few juicy pieces of information to chew on for the time being. Speaking to IGN, Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht shed a little light on this mysterious...
News Super Smash Bros. Brawl Tops A Million
The highly anticipated Nintendo game Super Smash Bros. Brawl has gone platinum after just 11 days of being on sale.
With a massive collection of Nintendo (, SEGA and Konami) characters aswell as a load of (almost kitsch) unlockables and extras, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is pretty much the Nintendo faithfuls wet-dream. It's no wonder it's selling so...
Monday11th Feb 2008
News Mr. Brown Partial To A Wii Bit Of Tennis
In an interview with Eamonn "I Wish I Was Phillip Schofield" Holmes on BBC Radio Five Live, British Prime Minister Mr. Gordon Brown has confessed that his family own a Wii.
"The Wii is very popular," Brown said. "I have played a game of tennis, but I didn't succeed... It didn't leave me out of puff, but that was probably because I...
News Microsoft Are Unaware Of The Game Wii Fit
Microsoft's corporate Vice President Shane Kim (what a cool name?) thinks that this generations console war winner has been called too early.
In an interview with New York Times Shane said: "The generation has a long way to go so it's way too early to declare a winner," he told the paper. "I remember a couple of weeks ago, a lot of...
Saturday9th Feb 2008
Review Lords of Thunder (Virtual Console / TurboGrafx-16)
Lords of Thunder is a side-scrolling shooter that has you take on the role of a legendary warrior, blasting enemies to heavy-metal tunes.
TG16 fans thought they’d died and gone to heaven when Gate of Thunder was published for the system. A shooter of truly epic magnitude, it rocketed the underrated machine to the top of the pile when it came to...
News WiiWare Focus - Steel Penny Interview
WiiWare World recently caught up with Jason Hughes, president of Steel Penny games who are one of the earlier third party development studios out there to put their money where their mouth is and develop something new for Nintendo's new WiiWare service.
With their pedigee as former Naughty Dog veterans we are hopeful that their first WiiWare venture...
News US VC Releases - 11th February - Harvest Moon
North America is playing catch-up with Europe for a change this week as Harvest Moon and Lords of Thunder hit the Wii Shop. Don't get too excited and rush to your Wii just yet though, we are being a bit naughty in breaking the news two days early! You'll have to wait until Monday to download these beauties!
The good old days of getting 3-4 new games...
Friday8th Feb 2008
News Ninjabreadman 2 Is Confirmed...
Our very own Anthony Dickens' absolute favourite Wii game is to get a sequel.
Here's the press release: Guide Ninjabread man through Candy Land on his mission to rescue his girlfriend ‘Treacle Tart’ from the evil clutches of ‘Emperor Sly’ Fox and his three Fox Cub Overlords. NinjaBread Man: Blades of Fury will be a combat and exploration...
News Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition OUT NOW!
The genius' behind the Guinness Book Of Records have compiled a gamer's edition containing a host of facts, figures and information about all your favourite games.
Written in the same style as the Guinness Book Of Records this volume contains hundreds upon thousands of facts and trivia related to the game industry. Did you know that Lego Star Wars...
News WiiWare focus - Interview with the director of Butterfly Garden
WiiWare World recently caught up with Shayne Guiliano, the Studio Director of Autonomous Productions, to find out his thoughts on Nintendo's new WiiWare service and catch up on the development of Butterfly Garden. It looks as if things are shaping up well for the 2009 WiiWare release and that this will be a game worth keeping an eye on.
WiiWare...
Feature WiiWare and Retro Gaming
Nintendo’s WiiWare service will be with us soon and with it comes the tantalizing promise of liberation for small-scale developers. It should grant diminutive studios the opportunity to create fun and affordable experiences without having to worry about such complicated factors as distribution and inventory management, which is obviously great.
Bu...
News Final Fantasy CC: The Little King - Media Blowout
Square Enix’s latest upcoming Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles title is easily one of the most eagerly awaited titles for Nintendo’s new WiiWare service and with good reason; the game is looking particularly special as these latest screens and trailer will attest.
It is understood that the game takes place after the GameCube title that the...
Thursday7th Feb 2008
Some new scans from "Japanese-games-press-giant" Famitsu show Mii compatibility in the new Mario Kart game.
You will be able to import your Mii into your game and then take them online thanks to Nintendo Wi-Fi which is a really awesome touch in my opinion. It's all well and good having an avatar and gamertag in XBOX Live but how about having your...
News EU VC Release - 8th February - Lords of Thunder
The third (!) week in a row with just one game! You can now download Lords of Thunder, a Turbografx-CD sequel to Gate of Thunder, which is a fantastic game.
Aside from the fact that the game was listed as costing 600 points instead of the usual 800 (which has now been fixed), there's not much else to report here. Obviously it's annoying that...
Wednesday6th Feb 2008
Review 42 All-Time Classics (DS)
The problem with compilations is that as a general rule of thumb, they tend to feature a handful of good games, with the rest being a load of all tat just there to make up the numbers or act as padding.
It's even worse if you come across some of those packs that boast over a thousand games, only to discover that actually, there are probably ten...
News Butterfly Garden Coming to WiiWare
A game involving butterflies may not sound all that appealing, but Autonomous Productions’ Butterfly Garden still has us extremely intrigued here at Virtual Console Reviews - regardless of the fact that it contains no guns, fast cars or big-chested ladies.
Originally entered in Microsoft’s 2007 “Dream, Build, Play XNA” competition, the game...
News Virtual Console Passes 10m Downloads Milestone
Nintendo has confirmed that its Virtual Console service has successfully recorded 10 million downloads in its opening year.
Nintendo Supremo Satoru Iwata revealed: Virtual Console saw over ten million downloads by the end of last December. That's the total number of titles people paid to download. I think that selling over ten million classic games...
Tuesday5th Feb 2008
Review Operation Wolf (Virtual Console / NES)
Operation initiated! Rescue the prisoners!
Operation Wolf was a massive hit in arcades when it was released in 1987. Although the concept of light gun games wasn’t a new one, Taito’s imposing arcade cabinet (replete with uber-cool replica Uzi) certainly made a lasting impact on gamers worldwide. Predictably, it was ported to pretty much every...
Review Metroid Prime Pinball (DS)
Morph (pin)ball
“Chalk and cheese” is a phrase usually used when comparing two objects of juxtaposing qualities. Such a phrase could be applied to the titles “Metroid Prime” and “pinball”, so it's quite a compliment to developers “Fuse Games” that it merged these two contrasting entities into an enjoyable DS game. Metroid Prime...
We know what you are thinking.
You have looked at the score at the bottom of the page, noticed that it is quite high and wondering how on earth a Sudoku package could possibly be rated so highly. The answer is that it isn't the Sudoku that holds our interest, it's the rather well hidden mode of picture puzzle that has us gripped, otherwise known as...
News Kirby's Dream Land 3 Reclassified by ESRB
After the somewhat dismal pair of US Virtual Console releases this week we thought you could all do with some slightly more joyous news. Kirby’s Dream Land 3 has been re-classified by the ESRB!
For those of you that don't know, ESRB stands for Entertainment Software Rating Board. These guys rate all of the software that is released in the US and...
Review Columns III: Revenge of Columns (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Oooh it's the revenge of Columns - I'm really scared!
Sega’s answer to Tetris is back once again. The first Columns has already been released on the Virtual Console and Sega never bothered to port the Columns II arcade game to the Megadrive/Genesis, so we swiftly move on to Columns III. While not terribly innovative in terms of concept, the...
News A(nother) 2008 Nintendo Prediction...
... this time from EA (the uber-duper-mega publisher) who think Nintendo will top the sales war in North America and Europe this year.
EA estimate that a total of 12-14 million Wii's will be sold in the two regions alone during 2008. This is a significantly stronger estimate than the predicted sales of the PS3 at 9.5-11.5 million and XBOX 360 at 6-8...
Monday4th Feb 2008
News Hardware Focus - Sega Master System
When Nintendo announced that the Virtual Console would be supporting the Sega Master System console you can bet that there were a fair few American gamers scratching their heads in a rather quizzical manner.
The console was a complete failure in the US thanks to a combination of poor marketing, terrible distribution, woefully misjudged software...
News The Secret Of The NiGHT(S)
According to a (not-so) shocking revelation from SEGA - there is secret content on NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams that updates itself every month.
According to 1-Up, it is tucked away in the "My Dreams" section where you raise A-Life (artificial life) creatures. January saw Nightopians bring in the new year with a fireworks display every hour...
News Commit A Crime - Bag A Wii
Err...
While most of you law abiding citizens are still struggling to either: afford the new Nintendo console, or; find the new Nintendo console in a shop, you might find it refreshing to know that foreign prisoners have access to the console whenever they desire.. Alongside being able to play Super Mario Galaxy the collection of foreign murderers,...
News Eternity's Child Confirmed as WiiWare
Those of you that own an Xbox 360 and follow developments on Xbox Live Arcade will no doubt be aware of this title.
Created by professional cartoonist Luc Benard, Eternity’s Child is a lovely looking platform action title that practically oozes quality. It was supposed to be XBLA-bound, but Microsoft’s cap on the size of downloadable games has...
Sunday3rd Feb 2008
News US VC Releases - 4th February - Operation Wolf
You can practically hear the sound of a funeral march as this week’s North American Virtual Console releases slowly appear from out of the impenetrable mist…
Those of you that moaned about the solo-game weeks will be heartened to learn that you have two games to choose from today, but the bad news is that both aren’t really worth downloading...
Friday1st Feb 2008
News Smash Bros Brawl Selling For $240 On EBay
Money, Money, Money
Brawl is now out in Japan, but if you were to walk the streets of Tokyo you probably wouldn’t know this fact as the game has promptly sold out all over the country with Nintendo unable to satisfy the seemingly insatiable demand for the hugely anticipated Wii title. But this is a world where money talks and one particularly...
News Dr Kawashima "Turned Down Brain Training Royalties"
And he doesn't feel stupid about it, amazingly
His name adorns one of the best selling games of 2007, but Dr Ryuta Kawashima hasn’t seen a single penny of profits. Nintendo’s Brain Training range has sold millions worldwide and bagged the resurgent company healthy profits, but the Doctor who came up with the ideas on which Brain Training is...
News Zack & Wiki 2 Possible, Says Creator
Could the underrated duo get a second chance to top the charts?
Despite posting depressing worldwide sales figures, Capcom’s excellent adventure title Zack & Wiki may be getting a sequel, according the game’s creator. Hironobu Takeshita was interviewed late last year and asked if Capcom had any plans to create a franchise based on the game...
News Wii Outsells PS3 3-to-1 In Japan
Normal service resumed as Nintendo dominate in The Land of the Rising Sun
Nintendo has started 2008 with a bang by outselling nearest rival Sony by 3-to-1. After a storming year in 2007, with both the Wii and DS topping their respective markets, the veteran videogame company started the new year in the same fashion, effortlessly dominating the...
