Spooky!

The first Nintendo Download of the year isn't a classic, but it brings some notable titles to DSiWare and a new WiiWare demo as well. Let's get this show on the road.

WiiWare

Sneezies (Chillingo, 500pts) - A cutesy puzzler that began life on the iPhone, Sneezies is a decent enough title but doesn't do much to stand out in the crowded field on WiiWare. Our Sneezies review coughs up a 6/10.

Ghost Mania (Legendo, 500pts) - Dubbed an "original puzzle game" by the press release, Ghost Mania is a coloured block-stacker with ghosts and things. We'll see how this title stacks up in our review later this week.

WiiWare Demos

Robox - A slow-paced side-scrolling platformer, Robox is a very acquired taste so it's good news that there's now a free trial available for gamers to try out. Our Robox review has all the information you need.

DSiWare

Alt-Plat: Jason Rohrer Anthology (Sabarasa, 200pts) - A collection of indie games from Jason Rohrer, there's genuinely nothing like this on DSiWare. Of the three titles here - Passage, Gravitation and Between - the last is only playable with another DS owner. Released in Europe last week, we'll have a full review soon.

Music on: Drums (Abylight, 500pts) - A drum sequencer rather than a virtual drumkit, this could prove useful for laying down beats on the go and creating your own songs, with a wide range of sounds available. It was released in Europe on Christmas Eve so our review is coming soon.

Word Searcher 2 (Digital Leisure, 500pts) - Another 100 themed wordsearch puzzles from DSi puzzle obsessives Digital Leisure, who released prequel Word Searcher almost exactly one year ago. We don't expect much to have changed, so have a read of our Word Searcher review to prepare yourself.

NINTENDO DOWNLOAD: RING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH NEW DOWNLOADS FOR WII AND NINTENDO DSI SYSTEMS

Jan. 3, 2011

Remember 2010? Seems like only last week, right? Time marches on, but one thing hasn't changed: Every Monday still brings a fresh lineup of downloadable games to the Wii™ Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi™ Shop. If you're new to the WiiWare™ or Nintendo DSiWare™ services, now's a great time to browse and discover hundreds of available titles. From puzzle games to platformers, brain games to action-packed shooters, you'll find something to please any hand-held or console gaming appetite. The WiiWare service even features demo versions of select games for zero Wii Points™, giving players the chance to sample them before deciding to download the full versions. You can also explore the Virtual Console™ service, which offers a wide range of video game classics that can be played on your Wii system. The future sounds pretty fun so far, doesn't it? Happy New Year!

WiiWare

Sneezies
Publisher: Chillingo
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Sneezies is an overload of cuteness! Grab a cup of coffee, sit back in your favorite plush chair and enjoy soothing, relaxed game play featuring fantastic graphics and sweet melodies. Use your Wii Remote™ controller to drop a burst of sneezing powder into the field of floating Sneezies and watch as they sneeze themselves out of their bubbles in a marvelous chain reaction. Try to rescue as many Sneezies as you can. Sneezies features beautiful graphics, varied backgrounds, hilarious sound effects and soothing background music. Play through 45 relaxing levels of Sneezies in the Classic Mode or unleash your skills in 15 Challenge Mode levels. Post your high scores online from within the game (broadband Internet access required) and see how you stack up against other Sneezies players around the world.

Ghost Mania
Publisher: Legendo Entertainment
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Ghost Mania is an original puzzle game for players of all ages, offering a new twist on the falling-block genre. Build and expand colored stacks of ghosts and blocks in any direction and any number. The game features multiple single- and two-player modes, including a relaxed and thoughtful puzzle mode, an arcade mode and a variety of two-player modes such as Battle and Enduro. The game centers on the misadventures of Becky and Tim, a pair of ghost guardians who've just lost their jobs. Having fallen asleep on active duty, they accidentally let all the ghosts escape from the Spirit World. Help Becky and Tim get their jobs back so they can return to the Spirit World. Catch the runaway ghosts before it's too late.

Robox® (demo version)
Publisher: DreamBox Games
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Fantasy Violence
Price: 0 Wii Points; full version available for 1,000 Wii Points
Description: Jump, explore and shoot as you discover a planet filled with strange and menacing creatures. Go through a beautiful and lethal forest, find your way out of a labyrinth cave, jump into jelly bubbles and go for a ride on a giant slug. Fight epic battles against giant final bosses. Regain the abilities you've lost with the help of tiny creatures. Move through walls, break the floor or get new gadgets such as drills and gigantic cannons. Discover one of the most beautiful, exciting and challenging games of the last few years.

Note: Some demo versions do not support all game features, and players cannot save their in-game progress in demo versions.

Nintendo DSiWare

Alt-Play: Jason Rohrer Anthology
Publisher: Sabarasa
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 200 Nintendo DSi Points™
Description: Alt-Play brings the best of independent gaming to the Nintendo DSiWare service, introducing players to some of the most unique experiences this medium has to offer. In this compilation, award-winning game auteur Jason Rohrer's work comes to the Nintendo DSi system, including three of his best games to date: Passage, Gravitation and Between. The deep themes and distinctive presentation in Rohrer's work help to blur the line between visual art and video games, evoking thoughts and emotions rarely associated with gaming.

Word Searcher 2
Publisher: Digital Leisure Inc.
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: You'll need a sharp eye and a quick mind to complete 100 themed word- search puzzles. Word Searcher 2 contains fun words from multiple categories including palindromes, pirates and painting. Packed with a huge assortment of subjects to choose from, there's sure to be a puzzle anyone can enjoy. Help improve your vocabulary, memory and problem-solving skills. Keep track of - and try to beat - your own play- through times again and again as words are scrambled each time you play. Put on your thinking cap and conquer all 100 puzzles today.

Music on: Drums
Publisher: Abylight
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: It's a beatbox full of features for creating songs and rhythms. With a library of 160 sounds, use your creative skills to assign them to eight available tracks per pattern. Activate or deactivate each of the 16 steps that make up a track using the buttons or the stylus and combine the eight patterns to compose up to 64 songs. If you want to produce a more complex tune, you can customize each step and set the volume, change the frequency and assign a panning. Like a professional DJ, you can create and play in real time. Once you've laid down your patterns, you can use them to create much more complicated rhythms in Song mode, where you can add them to a sequence of up to 32 parts and change their length, activate or deactivate tracks, add repeats and so on. Music on: Drums also includes a pre-recorded song.