Nintendo Wii

Today is Halloween in case you have been wrapped up in games and forgot. Not into costumes and other Halloweenish stuff, then perhaps a scary Wii game instead. Check out my list of Nintendo DS Halloweenish games here .

Alone in the Dark - This is the game that is said to have created the survival horror video game genre. I have never played it, but according to this site is not quite as good as the original, however it is still worth playing if you like this genre.

Ben 10: Protector of Earth - This is an alien type game, as you fight as Ben 10, who can transform into different aliens, against other aliens. I would not think of this game as scary/Halloweenish, but this site thinks it is. At least a good one for kids.

Resident Evil 4 - This is considered a survival horror type game. The use of the Wii remote and nunchuck is supposed to be at least decent if not great for this game.

This list is by no means extensive, so please feel free to comment and share your favorite games that you consider Halloweenish. 

The newest National poll results are in for Which ocean has the deepest point?  The majority (62.3%) said Pacific Ocean, which I looked up and is the correct answer. The gender breakdown was  63.1% of males and 60.8% of females saying the Pacific Ocean. The National Prediction Accuracy was 64.2%.

Did you vote with the majority? Was your prediction correct?

The newest poll is As a contestant on a TV variety show, would you prefer to … Sing or Dance?  Well, I would just prefer not to be on the show.  Anyways I will vote dance and predict the majority will say dance.

What is your answer to this poll and what do you predict will be the most popular

In the Nintendo newsletter e-mail I got yesterday it mentioned a contest they are running as part of the upcoming release of Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii.  The contest is called Animal Crossing Welcome Waggin’ Costume Contest .  To enter the contest you must dress up an animal to represent one of the Animal Crossing animal characters and submit a photo of the animal in costume.  The contest started yesterday and submissions are allowed until 11:59pm Pacific time on November 16, 2008.  There will be 50 winners, who will be invited to join the Welcome Waggin’ Committee (described as “a loyalty program that will provide the winners with a variety of special benefits and Nintendo and/or Animal Crossing merchandise”).  Winners will also receive a Nintendo Wii, 2 copies of Animal Crossing: City Folk, and 2 Wii Speak microphones.  This sounds like it could be fun.  I wonder if I could get my brother’s dog to cooperate, but then again I am not sure I am brave enough to try considering I have already been attacked by him involving a situation playing Wii Sports.

The newest National poll results are in for In your personal life, do you like to plan or go with the flow?  The majority (53%) said go with the flow. The gender breakdown was quite different with 57.2% of males and 45.6% of females saying they prefer to go with the flow. The National Prediction Accuracy was 58.2%.

Did you vote with the majority? Was your prediction correct?

The newest poll is Is the Earth the only planet in the universe inhabited by intelligent beings?  I would not be surprised if there are other planets with intelligent beings, but until proven as fact I will say No.  I am going to predict most will say No.

What is your answer to this poll and what do you predict will be the most popular answer?

Today two new WiiWare titles and one new Virtual Console game were released on the Wii Shop Channel.

Strong Bad Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands - This new WiiWare title costs 1,000 points.  It is the latest in the series of Strong Bad WiiWare titles.

Art Style: Rotohex - This new WiiWare title costs 600 points.  In this game you make falling triangles form hexagons of the same color to get them to disappear.

Earthworm Jim - This Virtual Console game was originally released as a Sega Genesis game.  It costs 800 points.  Play as an earthworm superhero and try to save the princess in this classic adventure game.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Guitar Hero World Tour - This is the latest guitar playing video game for the Wii.  Supposedly these are pretty good if you like playing the guitar in music video games, although personally I am quite attached to the drums from Rock Band.  However, from what I hear this series has done a much better job of making their Wii versions than Rock Band, so I can respect them for that.  The game alone and bundled with a guitar have been released.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

All Star Cheer Squad - This is a cheerleading game, which sounds oh so boring and ridiculous to me, although it might have a laugh factor.  Some young girls into cheerleading might find it fun and it does at least use the Wii Balance Board for unique entertainment, but really it just sounds stupid to me.

Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess - This may prove to be a good game for preschoolers, as most of the Nick Jr. show games are pretty decent.  This one is based on the latest Dora special episode, which is currently on DVD and will premiere on Nickelodeon on November 3.

Go Diego Go!: Great Dinosaur Rescue - This probably will be too kiddish for most, but if it is as well done as the Safari Rescue, then this will be at least a good game for preschoolers, especially if they are a fan of the show.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Baja 1000: Score International - This is a racing type game.

Ben 10: Alien Force - This is an action video game based on the television series of the same name.

FIFA Soccer 2009 - This is a soccer game.  It is nice to see it being released in the North America market, as my brother says the DS version he got back in the UK a few years ago is awesome.

Goosebumps HorrorLand - I thought Goosebumps faded away years ago, but I guess it is trying to make a comeback with a video game.

Hunt for Black Beard’s Booty - An action game you go looking for pirate treasure???

Monster Jam: Urban Assault - This is a Monster truck driving game.

My Sims Kingdom - Help King Roland revitalize his kingdom in this Sims game.

Nerf N-Strike - This game comes with one blaster that can be a real Nerf blaster or be used to make the Wii remote seem more realistic for the in game experience.  The basic plot appears to be to try and become an elite N-Strike.

Petz Horsez Club - A horse raising or riding game???

Shrek’s Carnival Craze - Sounds like a new version of Shrek Super Party, which is a game I loved on the Gamecube.

Six Flags Fun Park - Another theme park mini games game, except this time it is based on a real theme park.   It has 40 mini games.

TV Show King Party - This game originally started as a WiiWare game.  This follow up release is probably pretty much the same with just more or different trivia questions.  Sounds a lot like the Smarty Pants game.

Twin Strike: Operation Thunder - This is a helicopter flying/fighting game.  I am not into flying games, but I will give it credit for sounding unique as the only helicopter flying Wii game.

Ultimate I Spy - Search for different objects in different scenes.

The newest National poll results are in for Do you usually send holiday cards? The majority (59.5%) said No. The gender breakdown was quite different with 64.7% of males and 50.7% of females saying No. The National Prediction Accuracy was pretty low at 44.8%.

Did you vote with the majority? Was your prediction correct?

The newest poll is Is your next computer going to be a…? Desktop or Laptop.  My answer is laptop, as I find myself rarely using my desktop, but then again that may because my desktop is the outdated modeled that is the slowest between the two.  I had wanted a new desktop, but then I decided I might as well just save up for a laptop for when the current one craps out or frustrates me as being too slow instead of buying a desktop this year and then having to update my laptop next year.  I think most will say Laptop, but desktop is just as likely to be the winner.

What is your answer to this poll and what do you predict will be the most popular answer?

Baseball is one of the few sports games I enjoy trying out as video games (the only other sport games I routinely like to try are bowling games).  A few months ago I tried Backyard Baseball and was disappointed in its Wii controls not being too realistic.  I have had MLB Power Pros sitting in my Game Queue a while in hopes that it would prove more realistic and thus more entertaining.  This week I finally got it to try.

Just at first glimpse I rate this as better than Backyard Baseball in that the graphics are much more interesting, although not exactly realistic looking, as the characters are more Mii-ish, although the different fields are pretty realistic.  Plus, at least the characters are real Major League players.

You can play this game using a variety of game control configurations.  You can use just the Wii remote, the Wii remote with a nunchuck, a Wii classic controller, or a Gamecube Controller.  I personally tried only using the Wii remote with nunchuck.  Others may find a different configuration is more natural for them and that is what I like about the options just as I like these options being available for Mario Kart Wii.

There are a variety of modes to play in from Exhibition to Working your way up to the majors to Home Run derby to Season play.  Other modes include MLB life, League, Practice, and Wii Remote.  Basically the whole variety of play modes helps gives this game enjoyable depth without having to achieve certain things to get to the depth.  I will admit, though, that many modes are a little confusing at first.

Overall this game did impress me as a great baseball game for the Wii, but it is not that great if you want realistic feeling controls.  At least it does not try to be realistic and you do use just buttons when you have the nunchuck connected.  Also, I believe the controls work a little like the Wii Sports version if you choose to play with just the Wii remote, but then you do not quite get as much control over the game action.  Basically I do recommend this if you are looking for a decent Wii baseball game as far as depth goes and actually feeling like your in control of your team and you are really playing actual baseball.

The newest National poll results are in for Are you addicted to any TV show? The majority (69.1%) said Yes. The gender breakdown was 67.1% of males and 72.8% of females saying they are addicted to a TV show. The National Prediction Accuracy was 83.5%.

Did you vote with the majority? Was your prediction correct?

The newest poll is Which ocean has the deepest point?  Without looking on the Internet I am going to guess it is the Pacific Ocean.  I am just going to assume most will say that, too, unless of course the right answer is the Atlantic and people actually go and look it up.  I will probably look up the correct answer when I post about this one’s results.

What is your answer to this poll and what do you predict will be the most popular answer?

The other day I got an Amazon e-mail trying to get me to preorder Wii games from them.  I usually just delete the e-mails without looking at them, but this time I did read it found the top ten list of preordered upcoming Wii releases interesting.

1.  Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels - This is finally the lightsaber game for the Wii.  I am not too surprised it tops the list because so many people have been waiting for this game.  It is expected to be released November 11, 2008.

2.  Animal Crossing: City Folk - This simulation game has been a hit on the Gamecube and DS, so again not surprising that it is in the top ten.  Plus, it is going to use the new Wii Speak technology, which sounds potentially cool.  It is expected to be released November 16, 2008.

3.  Wii Music - This is a music game that lets you play  over 60 instruments just with the Wii remote and nunchuck.  It does sound interesting, but it equally seems like it could end up a flop with limited real play depth.  It was recently released on October 20, 2008 (I guess I waited a little too long to get around to posting this).

4.  Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World - This is an adventure type game that kind of sounds like a Pokemon type game.  I am sure it has potential to be enjoyable, but it just does not strike me as a preorder worthy game.  Apparently, I am missing something.  It is expected to be released November 11, 2008.

5.  Guitar Hero: World Tour - This is another Guitar Hero game.  I have nothing wrong with these games, but personally the only music game I have gotten into is Rock Band because I like the drums and am not much into playing the guitar.  For the Wii, though, so far Rock Band has been a little disappointing because I know there are better versions, thus for the Wii I still think the Guitar Hero games are the best music games.  It is expected to be released October 26, 2008.

6.  Carnival Games: MiniGolf - This  is a mini golf game that might be interesting to play, but it really strikes me as an odd game to preorder.  It just does not seem like it belongs in the top ten.  Perhaps it is just that not many people are preordering games and thus this can easily make the list.  It was recently released on October 20, 2008.

7.  DeBlob - This is an action Wii game that is getting decent reviews.  Why it is on the Amazon top ten preorder list I got e-mailed to me makes me really wonder because this was released back on September 22, 2008.  I guess I never had a chance or writing this before all the top ten was released considering I only got the e-mail last weekend.

8.  Monopoly - The popular board game comes to the Wii in this release.  I personally think it sounds like a lot of fun considering I have enjoyed Monopoly most when I used to have it as a game from a floppy disk.  This game was recently released on October 20, 2008.

9.  Hasbro Family Game Night - This is a collection of several favorite Hasbro games like Yahtzee and Connect Four including new variations on the classics.  It sounds like a good game that is maybe preorder worthy.  It is expected to be released on November 11, 2008.

10.  All Star Cheer Squad - This is a cheerleading game that is supposed to use the balance board.  It is at least an unique game.  I am totally uninterested in it, but I can see a lot of girls wanting it for Christmas this year.  It is expected to be released on October 27, 2008