Strongbad on the Wii!

I heard the rumor from my cousin this weekend, but a small amount of research found
this well-hidden homestarrunner page referring to Strongbad's upcoming games on the Wii! The best part, in my opinion, is that they won't be game disks (read: $50)...they'll be the launch of the WiiWare part of the Wii Shop channel as it was intended: a source for smaller, non-studio-type games designed just for the Wii and offered at (presumably) lower prices.

According to the original press release, there will be 5 games released, beginning in June, with each following episode released at the rate of one per month.

I love this idea- it's a great marriage of two things I'm a big fan of, but I do hope that Strongbad doesn't get too big, too fast- going truely mainstream would, I'm afraid, degrade what makes it funny in the first place. Going down this path might lead to an animated Saturday morning cartoon series with Strongbad or something, and that just wouldn't work. I laugh at the title of their announcement (Lappy 486 has sold out!), but I hope the brothers don't actually full-on sell out. It's too funny as it is. Though I do wish for more frequent updates of the podcasts and an rss feed for the Strongbad emails...

Guitar Hero for Wii

Yes...we got it.
Yes...we're nerds.
Yes...we LOVE it!

As far as I can tell, the recall on the Wii disks for only including Mono sound, rather than the box-advertised Dolby Pro hasn't happened, but it's not that big a deal. I understand why the graphics are far below those for XBox and Playstation, but they seem AWFULLY bad...even something like Mario Galaxy seems far graphically superior, though I love the hand-drawn cut scenes.

But my big surprise with this game is that you can't have the Wii Remote Jacket on the Wii Remote with the Guitar Accessory, the Jacket now being an official part of the Wii Remote, bundled with the new systems and everything. At least it's not that big a deal to take off, and we'll probably be doing that with two of our remotes anyway, now that Daniel got us one of those cool Wii Remote Recharger bases - they don't work with the jacket either, but it's worth it to have rechargable batteries in the Wiimote now!

Another thing I wish is that you could configure is which buttons on the remote played the respective notes for P2 if you don't have another guitar controller (and when are more of those coming, anyone?)...the B trigger is awfully akward to press when you're holding the controller sideways. They'd have been better off using two of the directions on the d-pad, rather than just one, and not using B at all. Oh well, hopefully we'll be able to find another guitar and never worry about that again!

All this aside though...Guitar Hero ROCKS (pun intended). And I know it's cheesy and adolecent, but hey, fun is fun! (Note Guitar hero has been added to my list of Wii games in the sidebar of this blog). ☺

Wii Photo Channel to drop MP3 playback (and Shop Channel to allow gifts)

Nintendo announced on my Wii yesterday that a new version (v1.1) of the Photo Channel is available, and includes the ability to play AAC files and lets you choose a photo to use as the Photo Channel icon on the Wii menu. Sounds great, if less than groundbreaking. Well, I wasn't interested in downloading it last night, and it's a good thing I didn't. I looked it up today and found out that they're not simply adding AAC support, they're dropping MP3 support when they do! That's stupid - MP3 is still the most user-friendly and popular audio format out there; why drop it? Surely the codecs aren't so large that the Wii can't hold them both simultaneously! I like the idea of adding AAC files - they have their advantages - but not dropping MP3 in FAVOR of AAC!

At least they're being smart about it - you don't HAVE to upgrade your Photo Channel if you don't want to: other Wii system updates will continue to install, no problem. I guess it's like not downloading the Internet Channel - it's just a program that's either there, or not.

The other good thing is that the same article states that games with MP3 support will not be affected at all by this change. Wait, there's games that play MP3s?
Apparently I should be reading the instruction manuals that come with my games - Excite Truck can do just that! That's awesome, because other than Bust-a-move Bash and maybe Rayman, Excite Truck's soundtrack is the most annoying one I've heard in a Wii game. I've got to try that out now.

Well, back on the Photo Channel change - I guess if I decide to install it, I can just use iTunes to rip my the existing MP3s I want the Wii to play into AAC (available by right-clicking on a song in your library and choosing "Convert to AAC". Then once I rip them into AAC and move the file onto the SD card, I'll have to delete the duplicate song from the iTunes library. Not the best, but I guess if I decide I really want a custom icon in the Wii menu, there are worse things. Hopefully Nintendo will realize people aren't happy with this change and add it back in. Of course, it's only techno-geeks that care, so I'm guessing that masses of angry Nintendo fans won't be storming Kyoto anytime soon.

One thing that's very cool that they announced in the same message, however, is the new ability to give Wii Shop software as gifts to other Wii owners you have in your buddy list. That's more fun than giving Wii points cards, and it looks like they've done a good job of allowing you to refuse the gift, giving the giver a full refund if you don't want it, and not allowing someone to give you something you've already got. And if you don't accept the gift for 45 days, it's automatically returned, with a full refund for the giver. Nice.

Super Mario Galaxy

OK, so I don't "officially" have this game yet (it's my Christmas present, but if Kyla gets to play with hers early, so do I ☺), but I've played about 30 minutes into Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii, and let me just say...YEAH!!!

It's gotta be done by the same team that did Mario 64, or something...it's so close to the same game. The controls, jumps, etc are pretty much identical. But that's a GOOD thing - Mario 64 was AWESOME, after all. And after the disaster that was Super Mario Sunshine, this is a breath of fresh air. And what a genious way of bringing in 2-player mode - Kyla can just come in and out of the game as she pleases!

Anyway, this game rocks. Now I'm just waiting for Mario Kart Wii in February - WiFi enabled is going to MAKE this game.

Check Mii Out!

Another new channel for the Wii has finally been released (and it's been quite a while since this one was announced)! It's called "Check Mii Out", and it's basically a place to share the Mii's (avatars) you've created on the Mii channel. They have a section where you just share your Mii's for fun, then they've got another section where they'll hold contests you can enter with your Mii's.

The current contest is looking for a Mii that looks most like Mario (of Super Mario Brothers fame), without his hat. I guess you'll have to go into Mario64 and let that bird take your hat to make sure you get it right!

There are just some impressive Miis that have been submitted in the plaza however...Darth Vader, an endless variety of Michael Jacksons, Kermit and Miss Piggy...the list goes on! I really can't figure out how they got some of these characters from the (fairly basic) Mii creator options! This channel allows you to copy any Miis in the plaza right onto your Wii, then rename and/or edit them yourself...much more flexible than Miis you 'mail' to another Wii from the Mii channel directly (doing this causes a read-or-delete-only copy of the Mii to be sent to the other console - no renaming or editing is allowed). It'd be fun to get into a boxing match with Vader!

On a side note, WOW did this channel download fast! It's all due to our significantly upgraded Internet connection speed, but it downloaded faster than NES games used to! That's going to make downloading VC games so nice...it's faster to download them than to transfer them to/from an SD card now.

Xbox Family Timer

Microsoft announced this week the addition of a new feature to their gaming console; the Xbox 360 Family Timer. It allows you to use the parental controls to regulate when and for how long the console can be used (for instance, only between the hours of 2-6pm, and for no more than 90 minutes per day). I didn't realize that they didn't have this feature before...I guess I'd assumed since their operating system has that ability, they'd already ported it to the 360. But, since it wasn't included at first, then all I've got to say is...finally!

Now if only the Wii would do that, too...it's the one parental control feature that I've always felt was missing.

Nintendo.com News : Who's Making Games for Nintendo Systems? Everyone!

After a few days of absolutely nothing interesting popping up, I found a week-old article listing upcoming Wii games, and it's quite a list!

Oct. 1: MLB Power Pros from 2K Sports Oct. 1: Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire from D3Publisher of America Oct. 2: Crash of the Titans from Sierra Entertainment, Inc. Oct. 5: Balls of Fury from DSI Games Oct. 8: Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast from Nintendo Oct. 9: FIFA 08 from Electronic Arts Oct. 9: Bleach: Shattered Blade from SEGA Oct. 9: LOONEY TUNES: ACME ARSENAL from WB Games Oct. 10: Arctic Tale from DSI Games Oct. 15: Sea Monsters from DSI Games Oct. 16: Thrillville: Off the Rails from LucasArts Oct. 22: EA PLAYGROUND from Electronic Arts Oct. 23: Backyard Football from Atari, Inc. Oct. 23: The Sims 2 Castaway from Electronic Arts Oct. 23: Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis from Rockstar Games Oct. 23: The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night from Sierra Entertainment, Inc. Oct. 23: NARUTO: Clash of Ninja Revolution from TOMY Corporation Oct. 25: M&M’S Kart Racing from DSI Games Oct. 28: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock from Activision Oct. 29: Battalion Wars 2 from Nintendo Oct. 30: Ben 10: Protector of Earth from D3Publisher of America Oct. 30: Showtime Championship Boxing from DSI Games Oct. 30: NEED FOR SPEED PROSTREET from Electronic Arts Oct. 30: THE SIMPSONS from Electronic Arts Oct. 31: Manhunt 2 from Rockstar Games October: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe from Activision October: Bee Movie Game from Activision October: Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground from Activision October: Ultimate Duck Hunting from Detn8 Games Ltd. October: Mercury Meltdown Revolution from Ignition Entertainment October: Namco Museum Remix from NAMCO BANDAI Games America October: Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity from The Game Factory October: Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth from THQ October: Bratz: The Movie from THQ October: Cars: Mater-National from THQ October: Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots from THQ October: SpongeBob’s Atlantis SquarePantis from THQ Nov. 5: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn from Nintendo Nov. 6: DanceDanceRevolution Hottest Party from Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. Nov. 6: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga from LucasArts Nov. 6: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games from SEGA Nov. 12: Super Mario Galaxy from Nintendo Nov. 13: Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 from Atari, Inc. Nov. 13: Godzilla Unleashed from Atari, Inc. Nov. 13: Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary from Eidos, Inc. Nov. 13: BLOCKS from Electronic Arts Nov. 13: MEDAL OF HONOR HEROES 2 from Electronic Arts Nov. 13: LUXOR: Pharaoh’s Challenge from MumboJumbo Nov. 13: Geometry Wars: Galaxies from Sierra Entertainment, Inc. Nov. 19: Link’s Crossbow Training (packaged with Wii Zapper) from Nintendo Nov. 19: SMARTY PANTS from Electronic Arts Nov. 20: Jenga World Tour from Atari, Inc. Nov. 20: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords from D3Publisher of America November: Trauma Center: New Blood from Atlus USA November: Star Trek: Conquest from Bethesda Softworks November: Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey from Disney Interactive Studios November: Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour from Disney Interactive Studios November: High School Musical: Sing It from Disney Interactive Studios November: Garfield Gets Real from DSI Games November: Furu Furu Park from Majesco Entertainment November: AMF Bowling: Pinbusters! from Mud Duck Games November: Ghost Squad from SEGA November: WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 from THQ November: Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 from Ubisoft November: CSI: Hard Evidence from Ubisoft November: My Word Coach from Ubisoft November: Petz: Catz 2 (name not final) from Ubisoft November: Petz: Dogz 2 (name not final) from Ubisoft November: Petz: Horsez 2 (name not final) from Ubisoft November: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 from Ubisoft Dec. 4: Alvin and the Chipmunks from Brash Entertainment Dec. 4: The Golden Compass from SEGA December: MX vs. ATV Untamed from THQ December: Super Swing Golf Season 2 from Tecmo, Inc. December: Rygar: The Battle of Argus from Tecmo, Inc. December: Cranium: Kabookii from Ubisoft December: Nitrobike from Ubisoft Holiday 2007: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams from SEGA Winter ’07: SoulCalibur Legends from NAMCO BANDAI Games America Jan. 21: Endless Ocean from Nintendo Feb. 10 : Super Smash Bros. Brawl from Nintendo Feb. 15: Yamaha Supercross from DSI Games Feb. 19: Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity from SEGA February: No More Heroes from Ubisoft February: Wild Petz Tigerz from Ubisoft March: Obscure: The Aftermath from Ignition Entertainment Q1: LUXOR 3 from MumboJumbo Q1: One Piece: Unlimited Adventure from NAMCO BANDAI Games America Spring ’08: Mario Kart Wii (name not final) from Nintendo

Yikes...that's quite a lineup! I'm excited about DK's Wii debut, LEGO Star Wars, Super Mario Galaxy (of course) and Mario Kart particularly. I'll be interested to see how the Petz lineups are...Kyla may like them. I'm intrigued by the Duck Hunt title, and that DDR is on this list...are they actually coming to the Wii!!? Link's crossbow training sounds interesting...but I'll wait to see if it's a game that has replay value...it sounds like something that will lose its interest after playing for a bit.

Titles like Puzzle Quest, Jenga and Geometry wars sound intriguing on the Wii's unique platform. Who knows how they'll actually be, but it's good to see game makers realizing the potential for quasi-educational, fun quick games on the Wii. Anything that has the potential for building hand-eye coordination better than just pushing buttons, all while stimulating your mind just a bit while you're at it, sounds like the right idea to me!

I'll be glad when they start releasing Wii games in the Mario Sports series...hopefully there will be a little more time invested in them than in the bundled Wii Sports...I'd love to play a good game of Wii Mario Golf where the controls worked like you expected!

On a related note, I was at a friend's house last night, and we got to talking about the Wii. He's got Madden '08 (I have '07, but not this one), and he told me that he plays head-to-head using the internet connection. I couldn't believe it at first...I thought there were only two such games so far; Pokémon and Super Mario Strikers. I looked at the box, and indeed, it doesn't have the Nintendo Wi-Fi emblem on it, but it advertises internet play! What did they do, throw it in without telling Nintendo? Or does the emblem mean that the game uses Nintendo's servers, and the Madden game is run through their own servers? I didn't know the game makers could access the internet connection directly without going through Nintendo...sounds like a stupid move that might have security implications (if I'm right, of course). Fortunately, it's not too easy for people to distribute homebrew Nintendo software (they can't exactly stick them in Target for people to get duped into buying, only to find out it's got a trojan or virus, and you can't download anything from the internet onto your Wii directly), so maybe that's what they're relying on...they probably thoroughly check out all the Nintendo games that actually get marketed to make sure they're clean.

Wii menu 3.1

I love it when I get up in the morning and the blue disc slot of our Wii is glowing blue - it means there's a "Wii-mail" waiting, and usually that means Daniel's left us a message. This morning however, after I got over the disappointment of, "Oh, it's just a message from Nintendo", and we realized there were three messages, not the normal one, I started to pay attention.

Wii menu version 3.1 apparently was released last night, and includes some hope-inducing updates, at least for me. I don't know if the functionality or look of the menu changed at all, as I haven't played with it yet, but here's the line in their message I was excited to see:

You can now use a USB keyboard on the Wii menu

What...really? People have been looking for hacks to do this for a year now, and you're just making it work!!? Awesome!

The reason it gives me hope is this: I've been hoping that they could make devices work on the built-in USB ports just with a system update, because I'm pulling for some kind of additional storage for the Wii's hard drive. I've got a number of classic games from the Wii shop, and I'm almost out of room! I can move games to an SD card, but you can't PLAY them from there - you have to copy them back to the Wii's internal memory before you can play them - a ridiculously time-consuming process. I'd love it if they allowed external storage - even if it was only by having to buy a Wii-branded jump drive that could actually bolster the Wii's memory. I'm not talking about doing it transparently like extending the Wii memory's partition onto the jump drive - you'd need to have three different memory spaces (Wii, SD and External), but when you plugged the jump drive in, it would scan for and display games contained on the drive right on the Wii menu, allowing you to play them right from the jump drive.

Obviously, I don't know the technical ins and outs of this, but since they're suddenly enabling USB keyboards, I have hope it might be coming...

One of the other messages from Nintendo this morning told users that we need to update the Everybody Votes! channel to work with the new menu, but when I went to the store after updating the menu, I noticed the Internet channel also has an updated version. Makes sense, if you want to use a keyboard on the Internet channel, right? Well, I don't know, because I had to leave for work this morning before it was done downloading (and before I could even look around the 'new' Wii menu, since I rushed right into the Store channel once it was updated), but when I chose to download it, I was informed through the usual message that,

The Internet channel only works with the Wii remote

Interesting. Maybe that's a left-over notice, or applies to controllers only (classic, nunchuck, etc), and not to keyboards, but if I can't use the keyboard on the Internet channel, what's the point? I can only use it when composing Wii-mails? Lame. But as I said, I don't know. I'll update this when I find out. Now I need to figure out if wireless USB keyboards will work, otherwise (again), what's the point? The Wii is all about wireless; I don't want to have to be attached through the keyboard!

On a side note - I had around 400 blocks of memory left yesterday, but the Internet channel was around 360, leaving me almost nothing - probably not even enough for the new Everybody Votes! channel download. I'm hoping that it will delete the old Internet channel, freeing up the space it was taking, and giving me back my memory, otherwise my classic gaming is done!

Update: I found a page on Nintendo's website that talks in greater (though not great) detail about this upgrade - it seems that USB keyboards will be useable on the new Internet Channel, as well as when composing messages. I can't find for sure if wireless keyboards will work, however. The update to the Everybody Votes! channel is just an 'improved display for National results by region'.

Latest Virtual Console downloads

It's taken me a while to get around to it, but over the weekend I finally downloaded two Virtual Console offerings that I saw and wanted - Kirby's Avalanche and Wave Race 64.

Kirby's is even more fun than I remember, though I'm not nearly as good at it as I used to be. Kyla and I even spent a few minutes playing against each other, and she said she'd forgotten how much fun it is - it's a perfect 2-player game if you've got 10-15 minutes to kill. Of course, the first thing I had to do was play at least up until I heard them announce, "Squishy!". Classic. I actually got all the way up to Paint Roller before biting the big one.

Wave race is one game that...I just like, I can't explain why. It's not incredible graphics (obviously) or really superb physics (though they're not bad)...but it's a fun game. Interesting though- I noticed that they changed some of the graphics. Remember how N64 games started having billboard ads for Nintendo products, especially around racing games' courses? Well, to me it looks like anywhere they'd advertised a gameboy before, they replaced it with a banner for DS lite, and about half the places they had an N64 banner, it now just says Wii. I don't think I like the change, though it's cute. Even though I'm sure they just swapped out the graphics in the ROM, I'd still prefer they offer just the completely original software. But that's just my opinion.