Can Hudson really pull off an FPS game on WiiWare?
Review House of the Dead: OVERKILL (Wii)
Overkill; the capacity to obliterate a target with more weapons than are required.
Is LIT a light in the dark or just running up the electricity bill?
News - February, 2009
Saturday28th Feb 2009
News ESRB Update: Four New WiiWare Games on the Way
The ESRB has updated with a whopping four new WiiWare ratings! Three of these games have already been released in Japan, but have now gotten their first sign of a release elsewhere. The other's quite a surprise!
Crystal Defenders R1 and Crystal Defenders R2 are the first two parts of Square's Crystal Defenders. As you might remember, the game was...
News Batten Down The Hatches For Family Pirate Party
Avast ya li'ly libbered land lubbers! Aksys Games have put out a press release to let us know that Daddy, Mommy, Sarah and Billy are bored of playing Table Tennis even more bored of air hockey!.
Batten down the hatches and prepare to embark on a nautical themed adventure – ya’argh! Clearly we haven’t been too impressed with the ‘Family’...
Friday27th Feb 2009
News The TurboGrafx-16 Returns to North America in March
Remember when the last TG16 games were released in North America? It was way back in October last year. Since then there hasn't been a single Hudson game on VC - A lot of people even thought that they dropped support entirely.
We can now say for sure however that this is definitely not the case - Hudson Entertainments's North American TG16 VC site...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - March 2009
Even Japan seems to be getting less and less VC games - Only 7 games will be released in March! There's two surprises this time - One's a great game which was thought to be stuck in licensing hell, while the other's a legendary Japan-only game which is commonly thought to be one of the worst games ever made!
The full list is as follows: Famicom:...
News Rock Band 2 released April 24th
EA confirm Rock Band 2 for Wii a month or so after the PS3/PS2 versions,
Rock Band 2 revolutionizes music gaming with the ability to export most of the songs from the original Rock Band disc , Online World Tour, daily Battle-Of-The Band Tournaments, No Fail Mode, and a real Drum Trainer. Rock Band 2’s massive list of innovations also includes the...
Thursday26th Feb 2009
Review New Play Control! Pikmin (Wii)
Pik-up a Pikmin
Pikmin has been, and always will be, one of those games that make me smile- there is something so very… charming about its concept: You play as Captain Olimar, a space pilot marooned on a strange planet. Upon atmospheric entry, his ship's parts were strewn across the local landscape, and, with no apparent means for being able to...
News Hudson Interview - Onslaught
When the release of Onslaught looked like it was still a few weeks away Amar Gavhane, the associate brand manager over at Hudson kindly agreed to do an interview with us answering all our questions about game modes, weapons, etc. It would have made for a fascinating read, except for just one small snag, before we could publish the interview the game surprised everyone and came out in Europe!
As we reviewed it shortly after its release and already revealed the answers to most of our questions, we agreed with Amar to run with a rev...
News EU WiiWare Update: Beer Pong and Snowboard Riot
It had to happen some day. We’d been hoping and praying that it would pass us by; that maybe Nintendo, in its infinite mercy would deem us Europeans likeable enough to avoid such digital garbage, but sadly it wasn’t to be. We’re sorry to report that the lamentable Beer Pong! Frat Party Games – the game that proved that quality and popularity don’t always go hand-in-hand by topping the US WiiWare charts for God knows how long - is now available on the EU WiiWare service.
...
News Night Game - New WiiWare Release From Nicalis
A recently released lineup of forthcoming games for Nintendo systems has thrown up a brand new WiiWare release called Night Game. Produced by the same team behind the upcoming Cave Story WiiWare port, this title is apparently ‘part action, part puzzler’.
Here’s the press release: Night Game, developed and published by Nicalis: Exclusively for...
News Nintendo reveal Classic Controller PRO
Nintendo of Japan's website has recently had an update which now includes an additional Wii controller, the Classic Controller PRO.
The new controller seems to be extremely similar to the existing Classic Controller but has the additional shoulder buttons (found on Gamecube) and a more Gamecube controller shape. The website states the controller...
News Japan to get the Classic Controller Pro
In an interesting move, Nintendo of Japan today announced that they are planning to release an updated version of the Classic Controller, called the Classic Controller Pro.
It mostly seems to be a design change - The cord connecting it to the Wii remote is now on the top instead of the bottom, there are now two grips to make holding the controller...
News Wisconsin To Tax Digital Downloads
With the popularity of digital downloads at an all-time high, it should come as no surprise that governments are beginning to look at ways to tax them.
The State of Wisconsin just recently signed a bill into law that allows for a 5% tax on all digital downloads spanning music, books, ring tones, and even video games. The state expects to rack up...
News Wisconsin Set To Tax Digital Downloads
With the popularity of digital downloads at an all-time high, it should come as no surprise that governments are beginning to look at ways to tax them.
The State of Wisconsin just recently signed a bill into law that allows for a 5% tax on all digital downloads spanning music, books, ring tones, and even video games. The state expects to rack up...
The good folks at Grendel Games have just sent us an update on the progress of their upcoming WiiWare title Diatomic.
We've been informed that we can expect screenshots and in-game footage sometime next week. They go on to say that the official web site for the game will also launch within the next week or so that will contain quite a bit of...
News Nintendo announces Excitebots: Trick Racing
Another new game in the Excitebike series, this time it's Excitebots and apparently it's got lots of tricks.
Excitebots™: Trick Racing has elements that make it one of the more unique racing games on the market. It launches April 20 and lets everyone in the family use the Wii Wheel™ accessory in unique and changing environments, play fun...
News Punch-Out!! gets May 18th US release
Nintendo updates its USA release schedule for Wii, Punch-Out!! on May 18th, New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat on May 4th.
Punch-Out!!™ launches May 18 and brings back all of the fun of the beloved, classic NES® game that thrilled players in the early 1990s. Boxers battle as iconic hero Little Mac as they fight their way through a cast of...
Wednesday25th Feb 2009
First Impressions Mr. Driller World
The plucky arcade star comes to WiiWare!
The gameplay is so simple you would be right to wonder why a game like this wasn't released for the Atari 2600, and this is a large part of the attraction and part of the novelty: the idea of what is essentially a classic arcade game being released in 1999 when arcade games were almost exclusively lightgun...
News Top 20 WiiWare Games in USA (25th Feb)
It's Wednesday again which can only mean one thing. It's time to take a look at the most popular WiiWare titles available in the Wii Shop. If you're feeling adventurous you can even take a look for yourself by simply logging on to your Wii Shop channel, heading into the WiiWare section and then viewing "Popular Games". It's that simple! Trust us, if we can do it, anyone can.
We compile this list using the USA region Wii Shop channel, so if you live elsewhere your list will probably be quite a bit different. Please feel free to post your region's findings below as always. Keep in mind that...
News Carmack looking towards Wii
Legendary games developer John Carmack speaks of his interest in developing a title for Wii.
The co-mastermind of iD software has often been very vocal in the industry, slamming the PS3 for its difficult architecture and writing off the Wii as a graphically challenged console, something which he's not used to coming from the PC world. Reported by...
Tuesday24th Feb 2009
News Out Today - Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop
US gamers can now get their hands on the slightly unfavourable Dead Rising Wii port from today.
Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, is pleased to announce that Dead Rising™: Chop Till You Drop ships today for the Wii™ home video game system. Taking advantage of the same proven technology that brought Resident...
News Sega's Let's Catch Gets OFLC Rated
Australia's OFLC ratings board has just recently given Sega's Let's Catch WiiWare title a "G" rating, which would lead us to believe that the game could be coming out there very soon and most likely worldwide shortly thereafter.
Let's Catch is basically a Wii Remote-infused game of catch that features both single-player and multiplayer...
"Whats Mean 247?" Yet more mysterious teasing from Sega!
As Ant predicted, Sega's curious Project Ringo site received an update today, replacing the Flash animation teasing a date with a different Flash animation teasing a different date. Good work Sega! Despite not revealing much, the website throws up lots of mathematical equations to which the...
Monday23rd Feb 2009
Easily the softest shooter on Wii.
For those that don't know what Nerf is, it's a brand of children's toy which became hugely popular in the 80's and 90's and continues sales today. The toys sell as a vast range of guns which shoot foam projectiles or "darts". Nerf N-Strike is essentially a light-gun-mini-games title developed by EA Salt...
News Headstrong to revitalise Virtua Cop aswell?
Not yet, but they'd like to. Headstrong show interest in working with SEGA again, possibly on another on-rails shooter, Virtua Cop.
In a recent interview with The House of the Dead: Overkill producer Neil McEwen, he admitted that the team at developer Headstrong Games would be interested in doing a Wii sequel to another Sega franchise, Virtua Cop...
News USA VC Update: Commodore 64 Launches With Three Games
As many guessed from the hints in last week's press release, the Commodore 64 has joined the North American Virtual Console today. With it come three games - An action game, a fighter, and a racer, so there's got to be at least something for a lot of people. All C64 games cost 500 Wii Points, just like in Europe.
The Last Ninja is the first game in...
News Climax working on new Wii title for Konami; Silent Hill?
Possible, but we simply don't know at this stage, however Climax have announced on their official website that they are indeed working on a new Wii title.
"Climax has a great history with recent titles such as Silent Hill Origins on both PSP and PS2, and Viva Pinata for Games for Windows, but the future is even more exciting with Overlord Dark...
News Virtua Tennis serves onto Wii
SEGA have confirmed that Virtua Tennis will appear on Wii for the first time with Virtua Tennis 2009.
Virtua Tennis 2009 was unveiled earlier this month for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Now SEGA has said Wii owners will be able to give it a go too with a version that has all the same features and arcade action. That means a playing roster that includes...
News Resident Evil 5 developer wants to make new Wii RE title
Masachika Kawata has openly admitted to EuroGamer his interest in making another new Resident Evil game for Wii
With work now wrapped up on the PS3 and 360 instalment, Resident Evil 5 producer Masachika Kawata has told us he wants to make a brand new Resi game for Wii. Thanks to the magic of translation, Kawata-san hinted to Eurogamer TV that...
News MadWorld producer working on new IP
It has been revealed that Platinum Games producer, Atsushi Inaba, is already working on a new IP, possibly for Wii.
Develop Mag: What are you ambitions for the studio and the Japanese games market in 2009? Atsushi Inaba: We have been developing games since we started this company. We've got big titles coming out this year, MadWorld releasing very...
News USA WiiWare Update: Onslaught
Put those flyswats away and bring out the big guns, because this week’s WiiWare release is the awesome Onslaught, which sees you assuming the role of an intergalactic pest control operative hell-bent on eradicating the numerous insect nasties that threaten to put the willies up highly-sensitive people everywhere.
Europe was lucky enough to get...
News SEGA introduce Project_RINGO
Scare details on another new Wii game from SEGA of Japan, further details to be announced tomorrow?
We've no idea what's going on here, you can see a teaser flash animation on the SEGA.jp website which seems to introduce a character. Very Sonic in style, but clearly not Sonic, SEGA seem to be announcing Wii games left right and center at the moment...
News The Conduit development trailers
High Voltage Software have released some new videos showcasing some of the features from the game.
The two videos detail different parts of the game and walk through a lot of the more technical features of the game, the first video guides you through these: The second video compares the current build of the game to a very very early one: Some huge...
Saturday21st Feb 2009
This is the winter portion of the world's foremost amateur sports competition, matching skills against the top athletes from one hundred countries.
It was inevitable that after two batches of events from the summer side of the Olympic festival that the third entry in the Games series would concentrate on the winter side instead. Offering seven...
10/10
The observant among you may have noticed that the scoring system has changed at VC Reviews from a five star system to a far more expressive scale of ten. We have debated making this change for some time as so many classics ended up getting rated with five stars (rightly of course!). Now you’ll notice a lot more 9/10 scores and only a handful...
Friday20th Feb 2009
News First Screens of Adventure Island: The Beginning Revealed
Hudson has revealed the first screenshots of their upcoming new Adventure Island game for WiiWare, Adventure Island: The Beginning which you can see below in our gallery.
From the screens you can see that the game will have gameplay very similar to earlier games in the series, with all of the unique gameplay elements we've come to know and love such...
Thursday19th Feb 2009
News Nintendo DSi European Launch: April 3rd
Following the news that North America will be getting the spanking new Nintendo DSi on April 5th many Europeans will have felt a slight twinge of jealousy.
After all we usually get the good stuff late from the big N don’t we? Fear not, for a date has now been set and it’s two days earlier than North America! Unfortunately preorders are being...
News EU VC Update: MERCS and Winter Games
This week offers no real surprises for Europe. One game was released in the US last week instead of ClayFighter, heavily hinting it would hit Europe soon, and the other game was bound to come sometime!
Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS is the second game in the Commando series. You can take control of one of a number of muscular characters as you trek...
News DSi European Launch April 3rd
Nintendo UK announce that the DSi will be released in Europe just before the US on April 3rd, here's the details:
Nintendo will launch its new handheld console, the Nintendo DSi, in Europe on 3rd April 2009. The Nintendo DSi will be available in black or white and is the thinnest and lightest member of the Nintendo DS family. The console is packed...
Wednesday18th Feb 2009
Review Evasive Space (WiiWare)
Will Akinai Games’ WiiWare debut live up to expectations, or is it better off being lost in space?
Let’s face it, when we first saw Evasive Space, we all thought it was going to be something quite special. Developed by High Voltage for Akinai Games, many gamers were expecting this WiiWare release to be nothing less than fantastic, and for good...
News Mr Driller Tunnelling His Way To WiiWare and DSiWare
According to the latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu, Namco is set to release a new version of its successful Mr Driller franchise on the Japanese WiiWare service this month.
Entitled Mr Driller World, the game will retail for 800 Wii Points and should be digging its way to sunlight on the 24th February. In addition to this, another Mr Driller...
News MadWorld gear available in the UK
SEGA announce that you'll be able to get your hands on some niffty MadWorld goodies here in the UK.
We know how you guys love our merchandise, so allow me to present to you some nice bits of MADWORLD merch that are available when you pre-order the game at various outlets in the UK. If you pre-order MADWORLD at HMV you can get the soundtrack CD for...
News Top 20 WiiWare Games in USA (18th Feb)
It's Wednesday again which can only mean one thing. It's time to take a look at the most popular WiiWare titles available in the Wii Shop. If you're feeling adventurous you can even take a look for yourself by simply logging on to your Wii Shop channel, heading into the WiiWare section and then viewing "Popular Games". It's that simple! Trust us, if we can do it, anyone can.
We compile this list using the USA region Wii Shop channel, so if you live elsewhere your list will probably be quite a bit different. Please feel free to post your region's findings below as always. Keep in mind that...
News Nintendo DSi launches April 5 in US
Nintendo set the new version of the DS to launch for $169.99 with DSiWare all ready to go and also announce new "Rhythm Heaven" game.
Nintendo pioneered hand-held entertainment in the ’80s and made it fully mobile with the Game Boy video game system. Now, Nintendo is transforming the way people access, experience, create and share content with the...
News Nintendo DSi North American Launch: April 5th
Nintendo has confirmed that it will be launching the DSi in North America on April 5th of this year and has given some tantalizing news regarding its innovative DSiWare service.
In case you didn’t already know, DSiWare is shaping up to be the portable equivalent of the WiiWare portal that is already entertaining millions on the Wii. Games will be...
Last week SEGA invited us down to Nintendo's Wii Flat in London to play some with some guns and some gore, here's the juicy details.
One of the perks of running a games website is when you get invited to events, SEGA put on the fantastic Guns N Gore II event to showcase House of the Dead: Overkill, MadWorld and The Conduit. Upon arriving at the Wii...
News Smash Bros Creator Working On New Game
Sakurai establishes new studio to create an experience different from anything you've ever played
It’s been confirmed that Masahiro Sakurai, creator of the highly successful Smash Bros series and all-round good egg, has founded his own ‘spin-off’ studio in the shape of Project Sora. The new studio – in which Nintendo has a 72 percent share...
EA reveal that Dead Space Wii will infact be a prequel to the famed "Dead Space" and in fact be an "on-rails" shooter.
Dead Space Extraction is a prequel that reveals the events leading up to Isaac Clarke’s mission on the USG Ishimura in the original Dead Space game released in 2008. Dead Space Extraction will marry the innovative motion controls...
Sonic and the Black Knight gets another trailer, scheduled for release in Europe for March 13th.
Sonic returns to the Wii to take a wild ride through the storybook world of Camelot in his all-new adventure Sonic and the Black Knight. Designed exclusively for the Wii, Sonic and the Black Knight brings a new twist to Sonic gameplay by combining...
Tuesday17th Feb 2009
Review Life Force (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Use the force!
For those not in the know, Life Force started out life known as Salamander in Japan and was renamed for Western audiences. The Salamander series is a spin off to Konami’s famous Gradius franchise of shooters; the main differences in Salamander are the introduction of a simultaneous 2 player mode, vertically scrolling stages in...
Europe has had to endure a painful wait for the seventh entry in SNK's epic 2D blaster franchise - but has it been worth it?
As you may already be aware, we’re massive fans of SNK’s Metal Slug series. The Wii Anthology went down a storm in the Nintendo Life office and when we became aware of plans for a seventh instalment we became very animated...
News More Details About Swords & Soldiers
As Swords & Soldiers nears its expected Q1 release date, it's only natural that Dutch developer Ronimo Games is trying to stir up some more hype for the game.
Today they've released a whole bunch of new things - Aside from a whole bunch of new screens which can be found below in our gallery, they've released a new trailer, and an official...
News Eternity's Child Nominated for GANG Award
Eternity’s Child may have had its critics but that hasn’t prevented it from picking up a Game Audio Network Guild nomination for Best Soundtrack.
The music was crafted by the very talented Sean Beeson and is well worth a listen. You can check out samples - as well as read about how the soundtrack was created – by visiting Sean’s own site...
Monday16th Feb 2009
Rumour EarthBound Not Coming to Virtual Console
You're no doubt aware that the much wanted EarthBound was ESRB rated quite some time ago. Nintendo has never particularly done much with the Mother series outside Japan, only releasing EarthBound in the US and for the most part just letting people wonder where Ness from Super Smash Bros. was from. Obviously, when the ESRB rating appeared, many people got excited that one of the biggest cult classics ever could possibly be rereleased on VC.
Sadly, it appears that this is not going to happen now. As yo...
News Diatomic: Microscopic Arcade Action Madness
Dutch development studio, Grendel Games recently got in touch with us regarding an intriguing new arcade action game called Diatomic which they plan to bring to WiiWare soon. Here’s what they told us:
Diatomic is a hectic arcade action title that focuses on making choices between defensive or offensive play. The player controls a diatomic...
News USA VC Update: Life Force
Good news for shoot 'em up fans - Arguably the best shmup on the NES is available today!
Life Force is a spin-off of the Gradius series. You once again control Vic Viper (Or Lord British) as you make your way through numerous stages to beat the aliens again. The main difference between Life Force and the Gradius games is the level layout - Gradius...
Overkill
Including an interview with House of the Dead: Overkill producer, Neil McEwan of Headstrong games. Along with the interview episode 2 of the Nintendo Life podcast includes a round up of the latest Wii and DS news such as the recent announcement of another Mario & Sonic game. Podcast #2 contents: Wii & DS News round up Neil...
News USA WiiWare Update: Evasive Space
Today’s solo release for North American WiiWare is Evasive Space. A causal glance at one of the many screenshots in our gallery below might lead you to conclude that this is a shoot-em-up game. In fact the idea in this game is to avoid things instead, which is a novel idea. The game has been developed by High Voltage for newly formed Akinai Games (YUKES of America).
From what we have seen so far and heard in our exclusive interview we’re expecting this to be a solid purchase. Competing for the best times on the online leaderboards should be a whole...
Saturday14th Feb 2009
Can Hudson really pull off an FPS game on WiiWare?
Japanese developers are not known for creating first person shooters. After all it is far from being a popular genre in the land of the rising sun. The few Japanese FPS games that spring to mind failed to compete with their Western counterparts. Considering the limitations of the WiiWare service,...
Review House of the Dead: OVERKILL (Wii)
Overkill; the capacity to obliterate a target with more weapons than are required.
Last year the Wii was graced with arguably two of the greatest light gun games of all time thanks to House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return. For fans of the series, like myself, it was fantastic to replay some truly classic arcade games as the Wii simulated the old...
News Hudson Not Abandoning Virtual Console After All?
While there's no denying that Hudson has already enjoyed quite a bit of success on Nintendo's WiiWare service, it's not been all good news for those of us who are still anxiously awaiting more Turbografx-16 Virtual Console releases.
Since they began releasing games on the WiiWare service, Hudson has all but stopped releasing any Turbografx-16 titles...
News Nintendo wants to give you a Valentine's gift
If you have Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City and WiiConnect24, expect a little surprise...
For those of you who picked up Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City on Wii and have been waiting for extra content to beef it up over its DS predecessor, Nintendo are about to wing you a (very small) present with not one but two downloadable presents...
Friday13th Feb 2009
Review Pop-Up Pirate! (WiiWare)
Pop-Up Pirate! - a barrel of fun or a total wash-out?
Many of us will remember Tomy’s successful ‘board’ game, Pop-Up Pirate, from our childhoods. Cautiously inserting mini-daggers into the pirate’s unsuspecting torso in an attempt to avoid murdering the poor one-eyed soul – that’s what being a kid is all about! Well, perhaps not, but it...
Out Today House of the Dead: OVERKILL
They came for brains, you'll give them bullets! SEGA horror-thon House of the Dead: OVERKILL is out today.
Survival horror as it’s never been seen before! A pulp-style take on the classic SEGA light-gun shooter series. Back when the famous Agent G was still fresh out of the academy, he teamed up with hard-boiled bad-ass Agent Washington to...
Thursday12th Feb 2009
Riddle me this, riddle me that, who's afraid of the big, black bat?
Batman, the caped crusader, a franchise that has had a massive reinvention over the past few years thanks to the wonderful Christopher Nolan and his Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. However Batman has been around for a long long time and has now had three distinct on screen...
News Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
SEGA announce the second helping in the Mario & Sonic series, this time our heroes do battle in the Winter Olympics!
Developed by SEGA of Japan, under the guidance of Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games will take players to lifelike Olympic venues where they can choose from a legendary cast of playable characters,...
News EU WiiWare Update: Onslaught and Pop-Up Pirate!
This week brings an unexpected release! You were probably expecting Snowboard Riot to be Hudson's next WiiWare game in Europe. Surprise surprise, because they have instead chosen to release Onslaught!
Onslaught was only announced for European/American release about a week ago, but it's already available now! The game is, shockingly enough, a first...
Competition Evasive Space - Best Evasive Skills Competition
To coincide with the North American release of Evasive Space this coming Monday we’ve teamed up with Akinai Games to give you the opportunity to win a copy of the game by sharing with us your best example of evading something.
The object being evaded could be anything: a random projectile; the horror of kissing a great aunt with a hairy chin; a...
News OFLC Update: Even More Imports!
The OFLC has updated once again with ratings for some games which will soon be coming to Europe/Australia.
The least surprising of the lot is Clu Clu Land. It's already available in the US and was released in PAL regions originally, so it's no shock that it's coming to the VC elsewhere. Also not really unexpected is Kirby's Dream Land 3. Also...
We've played the gorefest MadWorld from Platinum games, but is it all about the visuals?
MadWorld is a game that I've been wanting to play ever since I saw the first trailer. The "Sin City" comic book style is jawdroppingly cool, I wasn't sure what it'd be like in the flesh but it looks great. Having read other previews I'd heard of people...
The much hyped The Conduit has been making headlines left right and centre, but is it the FPS saviour for the Wii?
Maybe. Thanks to SEGA we managed to have a quick sneak-peak play of The Conduit yesterday. Let me start by saying that I do have some pre-conceptions about this title, casting our minds back to "Red Steel", we saw a shed load...
Wednesday11th Feb 2009
First Impressions Bubble Bobble Plus!
Bub and Bob hit the WiiWare service in style.
I've got a confession to make, and it's not that I don't like Bubble Bobble, because I do like it and the two arcade follow-ups: Bubble Symphony and Bubble Memories. No, I actually want to confess that I didn't want to buy or play this game tonight. Now, like everyone else I saw the announcement which...
News Top 20 WiiWare Games in USA (11th Feb)
It's Wednesday again which can only mean one thing. It's time to take a look at the most popular WiiWare titles available in the Wii Shop. If you're feeling adventurous you can even take a look for yourself by simply logging on to your Wii Shop channel, heading into the WiiWare section and then viewing "Popular Games". It's that simple! Trust us, if we can do it, anyone can.
We compile this list using the USA region Wii Shop channel, so if you live elsewhere your list will probably be quite a bit different. Please feel free to post your region's findings below as always. Keep in mind that...
Tuesday10th Feb 2009
Is LIT a light in the dark or just running up the electricity bill?
Turn off the lights and grab your controller because it’s up to you to - erm - turn them back on. That’s the basic premise behind WayForward’s spooky puzzle game LIT. LIT puts you in the shoes of Jake, your regular pale-faced emo teenager, whose girlfriend is missing in a...
Review Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS (MD)
Join a group of professional mercenaries to undergo secret missions, battling through enemy lines to go where no ordinary soldier would dare to go.
Once upon a time, back before Capcom officially started supporting the Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega acquired licence to reprogram various arcade classics produced by the developer. Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts,...
News Design your own OVERKILL wallpaper
SEGA want you to be bad, create your own House of the Dead: OVERKILL wallpaper and share it with the world.
Get ready for the release of The House of the Dead: OVERKILL™ on Friday the 13th by creating your own OVERKILL-inspired shock-horror film poster with The House of the Dead: OVERKILL Movie Poster Wallpaper Creator You can save your...
Competition Tetris Party Tournament No. 3 Details
If you missed your chance to compete in the last Tetris Party tournament then here is yet another chance for you to show off your skills to an unsuspecting world:
WHAT: Tetris Party Tournament No. 3 for WiiWare Players HOW: Tetris Party Tournament No. 3 will feature four rounds – Marathon, Field Climber, Shadow and Stage Racer. Rounds one and two...
SEGA announce a huge impending loss and possible job cuts, what's happening at SEGA of Japan?
Across Sega Sammy Holdings as a whole - which includes Sammy's pachinko/pachislot machines, along with Sega's arcade machines and home video games - a downturn in revenue has led to the company revising its forecast for the financial year, with Sega now...
Monday9th Feb 2009
Allow us to shed some light (haha!) on this week’s WiiWare release – it’s Wayforward’s angst-em-up LIT, which we first clapped eyes on some time ago.
Based inside a sinister looking school, you assume the role of Jake as he attempts to locate his girlfriend so they can presumably bunk off lessons and attach fireworks to the tails of local...
News USA VC Update: Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS
Instead of ClayFighter, today sees the VC release of another Capcom classic. It's not that surprising though, because Capcom hinted that it would be released not too long ago!
Mercs, now renamed Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS, as promised by Capcom, is an overhead run and gun game for the Genesis. You can pick one of a number of characters as you...
News New Cave Story Graveyard Screenshot
As usual, Nicalis is releasing Cave Story screenshots one at a time. This time we get a look at one of the graveyard shots of the game. Once again the game looks fantastic and our anticipation level for the game is at an all-time high.
Tyrone Rodriguez, of developer Nicalis, has recently flown to Kyoto to meet with Pixel about something top secret...
Sunday8th Feb 2009
Review Snowboard Riot (WiiWare)
Is Hudson's Snowboard Riot a riot to play, or just a wipe-out?
There's no denying that Hudson is one of the more talented developers on WiiWare. All of their games to date have done much to impress and show other devs how it’s done. In Snowboard Riot they have turned their hand to creating a racing game with the added bonus that you can use items...
Review Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii)
Monolith's near cancelled game finally gets a release, but is it a total disaster waiting to happen?
The term 'action-blockbuster' is thrown around frequently these days, usually to describe an explosion-heavy-plot-thin film which garners praise and box-office approval. Taking a cue from this definition, Disaster: Day of Crisis leaps onto the Wii,...
News Animales de la Muerte Officially NOT Coming To WiiWare
The cat is finally out of the bag!
High Voltage’s Animales de la Muerte is officially NOT coming to WiiWare anymore. For those not in the know this game is a bloodthirsty comic shooter set in a zoo of all places. Check out the interview we did last year with High Voltage to find out lots more about this game. The fact that it is no longer planned...
News New "The Conduit" Details
Details have surfaced during New York's Comic Con, the game should be out in June (US) and won't include local multi player.
According to Eric Nofsinger, Chief Creative Officer, there'll be a lack of spilt screen multiplayer, but still having strong online features. Apparently the team tried to enable multiplayer play using LAN, but Nintendo...
Saturday7th Feb 2009
ClayFighter is a 2D fighting game in which the characters, as the name suggests, are made completely out of clay.
When Clayfighter was first released on the 16-bit consoles in 1993, claymation had never before been used in video gaming. While television shows and motion pictures had experimented with the technology to varying degrees of success, it...
Whilst many of us are used to WiiWare games consisting of puzzle games and the very odd platformer, we are starting to see some more ambitious games.
Overturn is one of these, a 3D arena-based robot fighting game which features not only 2-player split screen and a single player story (tournament) mode, but online play with up to four players --...
Friday6th Feb 2009
News Bored today? Try Cheerleading with We Cheer!
505 Games announce that Namco's We Cheer is out today in UK/Europe, apparently the girls of "Sheffield Storm All-star Team" are dead impressed.
“We’re more than happy to be involved with a game which will hopefully give more publicity to our sport, which is always growing in popularity in this country,” commented Coral Head, Storm All-stars...
News Bubble Bobble Plus Out On WiiWare Next Week
...If you are in Japan of course! Yes that’s right, no sooner than Bubble Bobble Wii was announced now it is dated for release on Tuesday, 10th February on Nintendo of Japan’s website.
The game will have 200 maps, 100 for the original game and another 100 in the arrange mode. Taking into account the two difficulty settings this makes a mighty...
News Even More Onslaught Screens Break Cover
Hudson certainly doesn’t waste any time when it comes to promoting its upcoming games; we only dropped the news bomb on the company’s impending FPS title Onslaught a few days ago, closely following with 6 screenshots which we nabbed off Hudson's website.
It doesn't stop there folks as our pals at Hudson sent over a whole lot more images today...
Thursday5th Feb 2009
First Impressions Pole's Big Adventure
I have a confession to make. I hate platforming games.
I think outside of sports games they must be my least favourite genre. So why would I be interested in a game like Pole's Adventure, which is very much a mishmash of 8-bit platformers? Well, because it takes the piss out of them fantastically of course! I think it's safe to say that if you...
News Hudson Releases Onslaught Screenshots
WiiWare fans who've been aching for a first-person shooter experience are in for a treat with Hudson's upcoming WiiWare title Onslaught. Combining intuitive FPS controls using the Wii Remote with intense shooting action, Onslaught looks to be just the WiiWare title action fans have been waiting for.
Being the first FPS on WiiWare, Onslaught gives...
News EU VC Update: ClayFighter and Sonic Chaos
Hanabi Festival enthusiasts have to wait a bit longer, it seems - Due to recent OFLC ratings, many thought one would be right around the corner, but Nintendo seems to have given this VC week to Sega instead.
The first new game this week is ClayFighter for the Mega Drive. Attempting to cash in on other popular games at the time, such as Street...
News EA announce Nerf N-Strike
EA just can't stop making "casual" Wii games, here's the latest, Nerf N-Strike.
EA Casual Entertainment and Hasbro bring the action and chaos of the popular NERF brand to the digital world. In a world specifically created to be the perfect landscape for NERF pandemonium, players can wreak havoc and perfect their blasting skills or challenge friends...
News Natsume to offer something reely abit fishy...
Natsume to offer a more "realistic" fishing game when "Reel Fishing: Angler's Dream" launches this year.
Reel Fishing: Angler's Dream will fulfill the need of every gamer who has fished or who has wanted to cast their first line. Featuring a magnificent 3D fishing engine, lifelike fish and soothing environmental sounds, Reel Fishing: Angler's Dream...
News New Play Control! Metroid Prime is HOT.
Trailers for the "new" Wii version of Metroid Prime start hitting the internet, prepare excited Metroid fans.
It might be true that Nintendo are just re-releasing a game, it's true that we've all paid for it before Metroid Prime was probably my favourite Gamecube game - ever. When Metroid Prime 3 came to Wii it completely reinvented the controls,...
News SEGA dates Sonic and the Black Knight
Hot on the heels of Sonic Unleashed, Sonic and the Black Knight is scheduled for March, worldwide.
Created by Sonic Team in Japan, this innovative game takes Sonic into a medieval world and arms him with a sword to aid in his effort to save the day. More Details » Sonic and the Black Knight will provide Sonic fans with an irresistible cast of...
Feature House of the Dead: OVERKILL gets positive first reviews
The monolith EuroGamer gives SEGA horror rebirth a respectable 8/10 in one of the first reviews around, not bad eh?
Combined with the occasionally grating script, these moments of weakness and imbalance can cause The House of the Dead: Overkill to feel flat at times. But that's only because they're thrown into stark relief by the rest of the game's...
Wednesday4th Feb 2009
News Hudson's Upcoming WiiWare Games Revealed
Our contact at Hudson who represents the European region has been kind enough to confirm the WiiWare lineup for the next few months. It should come as no surprise that Snowboard Riot has been penciled in for a February release, as this is now already out in North America.
The games for March and April might come as more of a surprise however:...
News Top 20 WiiWare Games in USA (4th Feb)
It's Wednesday again which can only mean one thing. It's time to take a look at the most popular WiiWare titles available in the Wii Shop. If you're feeling adventurous you can even take a look for yourself by simply logging on to your Wii Shop channel, heading into the WiiWare section and then viewing "Popular Games". It's that simple! Trust us, if we can do it, anyone can.
We compile this list using the USA region Wii Shop channel, so if you live elsewhere your list will probably be quite a bit different. Please feel free to post your region's findings below as always. Keep in mind that...
News Eduardo the Samurai Toaster - First Look Video
Eduardo the Samurai Toaster is one of the most interesting WiiWare titles we've seen in a long time; at its core this is an incredibly fast and frenetic side-scrolling, run‘n’gun 2D shooter, featuring visuals drawn and scanned in from several different art mediums such as pen & ink, acrylic paint and charcoal.
After reading our recent...
News EA: Dead Space heading to Wii
It seems Electronic Arts have confirmed that Dead Space will be heading to Wii this year.
Edge Online have today reported that EA have confirmed that Dead Space will be heading to Wii, the following was posted on their site: EA CEO John Riccitiello said that his company will be bringing games based on mass market Hasbro and Sims properties to the...
News Weekly WiiWare Round Up (4th Feb)
Nintendo's WiiWare shop has 4 new releases this week, Pop Them, Drop Them SameGame, Lonpos, Family Glide Hockey, Snowboard Riot.
Pop Them, Drop Them SameGame: Release Date: Fri 30th Jan (EU) Same Game is a simple yet engrossing puzzle game where you clear matching blocks in sets of 2 or more. Score high by clearing out more blocks at once. If you...
News Weekly Virtual Console Round Up (4th Feb)
Nintendo's Virtual Console shop has 1 new release this week, Sonic Chaos (SMS).
Sonic Chaos: System: Master SystemRelease Date: Mon 2nd Feb (US) Play as Sonic or Tails in Sonic Chaos, which was originally made for the Sega Master System. Dr. Eggman (a.k.a. Dr. Robotnik) has stolen the Red Chaos Emerald to create nuclear weapons. This has thrown the...
Tuesday3rd Feb 2009
Play as Sonic or Tails
For those gamers in 1993 who were still unfortunate enough to not have not upgraded to the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis this third 8-bit Sonic adventure might hold some memories. It is unlikely that many will remember this Master System swansong however. That nasty piece of work, Dr. Robotnik is up to no good again and has...
News LucasArts announce Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
No LEGO in sight for this new Indy game, set to be all very interactive and wonderful, new story, new name.
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings features completely interactive environments, where players need to call upon their wits and daring to make each spring-loaded environment a weapon in order to dispense of foes in clever and unexpected...
News Bubble Bobble Plus Gets Rated for Western Release
We’ve slowly been getting more and more excited about Taito’s WiiWare update of its classic Bubble Bobble coin-op, but so far our anticipation has been checked by the fact that the game looked destined to remain a Japan-only release.
Thankfully our scepticism was unfounded as the game has just been rated on the German USK database, making a...
Strange things occur in the minds of the Japanese, this latest game by SEGA you don't even need to hold the controller, no joke!
Let’s Tap, a game that is blazing new ground in Nintendo Wii control design. Developed by Prope, the studio that Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka established in 2006, Let’s Tap is the first product from the new...
News Boom Blox Sequel Confirmed
EA confirm that Steven Speilberg puzzler Boom Blox will get another outing, Boom Blox Bash Party.
January 29, 2009 - Get ready for the ultimate blox-busting action as Electronic Arts Inc. today announced BOOM BLOX™ Bash Party for Wii™, the sequel to the critically-acclaimed BOOM BLOX™ game for Wii. EA’s collaboration with director and...
News Out Today - Tenchu: Shadow Assassins (US)
US gamers can now get their hands on the new Tenchu game, Tenchu: Shadow Assassins developed exclusively for Wii.
Tenchu: Shadow Assassins continues the saga of elite ninjas, Rikimaru and Ayame, who must use their lethal skills to keep the peace in feudal Japan. Playing as both stealthy Rikimaru and aggressive and acrobatic Ayame, players will fight...
News World Goes Mad, March 10th
SEGA confirm the US release date for new gore-fest MadWorld as March 10th, Europe to follow in Spring.
MADWORLD, is an inventive third-person action game exclusively for Wii. Produced by Atsushi Inaba, MADWORLD has a unique black and white style, depicting an incredibly sharp backdrop that straddles graphic novels and 3D worlds. As players battle...
Monday2nd Feb 2009
News USA WiiWare Update: Snowboard Riot & Lonpos
Great news for snowboarding fans today as Hudson’s Snowboard Riot is up for grabs for 1000 Wii points. This game looks like it has it all, racing action, weapons to slow down your opponents, Balance Board support and most importantly online competition! We think it looks like potentially one of the most exciting WiiWare games of the year, but you’ll have to wait for our review in a couple of days to discover if this is really the case. Until then why not check out the official site to help you decide if you want to take a chance on it before our review?
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News Gaijin Games Interview - Bit.Trip Beat
Bit.Trip Beat looks set to be one of the most original and fun games of 2009 on WiiWare. It’s a clever blend of Atari 2600 visuals, Pong gameplay and a slamming chiptune soundtrack.
Intrigued by this mysterious looking game we contacted the developers Gaijin Games to find out more. Thankfully the head honcho, Alex Neuse agreed to spill the beans...
News Gamelion Studios Announces Furry Legends for WiiWare
Yet another developer has announced they are developing a WiiWare game! This time it's Gamelion Studios based in Poland, who have announced that they are making a game named Furry Legends.
As there are no screenshots or videos just yet, you'll have to read the press release to make up your mind: GAMELION announces “Furry Legends”, a WiiWare...
Pilot
Nintendo Life steps into the world of Podcasting, our very first episode is available now, presented by our very own James Newton. In our first ever podcast episode James takes a look back at 2008, looking specifically at three outstanding Wii titles, Zack & Wiki, Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Next on the agenda is 2009,...
News USA VC Update: Sonic Chaos
The streak of high-profile releases for the US continues - As Sonic 3 wasn't remade for the Master System, Sega has decided it's time to release the other Sonic games for the system.
Sonic Chaos is the third Master System Sonic game. The Chaos Emeralds have been stolen yet again, so Sonic and Tails will have to travel through six zones to get them...
News EA breaks up Need For Speed
The constantly wonky world of Need For Speed is to be split into three distinctly styled games, SHIFT, Nitro and World Online.
We've never shied away from Need For Speed, every year we give it another chance and every year we feel let down, we'll agree that Wii and DS aren't really the natural choice for driving sims, but EA keep on churning them...
Sunday1st Feb 2009
SEGA couldn't keep him on the leash any longer...
Better late than never - this review - not Sonic Unleashed. Sonic Team offered us the latest Sonic adventure just before Christmas, we'd like to tell you we've been so busy playing it since then that we're only just getting round to the review, but that's not true. So let's get on with it. Sonic...
News Team Meat Interview - Super Meat Boy
Team Meat's Super Meat Boy title might be very early in development for the WiiWare service, but it's never to early to dig for a little new information on the game. With the popularity of the flash version of the game already creating some anticipation for the game, we couldn't resist touching base with the developers in an effort to pry a few tidbits of information out of them.
We recently caught up with two members of Team Meat, Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes, and they were kind enough to take part in an interview with WiiWare World. You can read on below to see what they had to say to...
News LIT Coming To US WiiWare on February 9th
Those of you out there who've been anxiously awaiting Wayforward Technologies' new WiiWare title LIT won't have to wait much longer. WayForward has just announced on their web site that LIT will be coming to the North American WiiWare service on February 9th for 800 Wii Points.
LIT is a 3D horror action puzzler that follows Jake, a typical,...
