Link's Crossbow Training bundled with Wii Zapper, ships Nov 19

58 Comments by James Ransom-Wiley Sep 10th 2007 6:25PM
Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Peripherals

Nintendo has officially confirmed Link's Crossbow Training, a pack-in title, to be bundled with the Wii Zapper, which hits retail November 19th for $19.99. As rumored earlier today, LCT is a sort of minigame spinoff that's set in "a world in the style of" Twilight Princess and features a series of crossbow training exercises, from stationary target practice to enemy combat. In other words, it's an archery tech demo ... for a gun peripheral. (Note: "gun peripheral" refers to a plastic mold that houses the Wiimote and Nunchuk.)

Having Link's pretty mug on the box is gonna sell units, we get that, but guys, c'mon, where's Duck Hunt? More shoot-shoot bang-bang, less thwap-thwap thud, okay? At least there's the potential to ~~shoot the heck out of~~, er, 'zap' stuff in three upcoming third-party efforts: Ghost Squad (Sega), Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (EA) and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Capcom).

Tags: BreakingNews, LinksCrossbowTraining, WiiZapper

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

mr nimblewick: Sep 10th 2007; 6:29PM

I would get the game separately, but I don't want that hunk of plastic taking up space in my apartment.

Mattt Dargis: Sep 10th 2007; 6:35PM

Man, this makes me glad I got rid of my Wii. What is this, a glorified Duck Hunt?

mr nimblewick: Sep 10th 2007; 6:36PM

I would also accept a glorified Duck Hunt.

mr nimblewick: Sep 10th 2007; 6:37PM

I would also accept a glorified Duck Hunt.

MGSLOL: Sep 10th 2007; 8:13PM

He would also accept a glorified Duck Hunt.

mr nimblewick: Sep 10th 2007; 8:19PM

No offense, Joystiq, but we are officially broken up.

Shagittarius: Sep 10th 2007; 6:30PM

Walking down the street
Shooting people that I meet
With my rubber tommy water gun
Here come the deputy
Hes gonna come and get me
I gotta get me up and run
They got the sirens loose
I ran right outa juice
Theyre gonna put me in a cell
If I cant go to heaven
Will they let me go to hell?
Crazy stone cold crazy you know

J-Guy: Sep 10th 2007; 7:46PM

Queen FTW!

3cubed minus 3squared plus1: Sep 11th 2007; 1:20AM

Shagittarius,
I think thats the best thing you've said, evar.
I don't see why so many people minused you.
heres a +

Shagittarius: Sep 11th 2007; 11:43AM

I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and, doggonit, people like me!

Mr Khan: Sep 11th 2007; 5:26PM

My guess is that the people who don't know about Queen (younglings, mayhap, people my age with no taste for the classics) assumed it was trollage, so minused on sight

colin: Sep 10th 2007; 6:31PM

looks like that sega peripheral, except white instead of grey and orange and light grey.

vidGuy: Sep 10th 2007; 6:35PM

As a huge Wii gamer... I will NOT be getting this piece of crap. The Wii controls are stellar on their own, I don't see why I'd need something like this making things more difficult.

waves: Sep 10th 2007; 6:48PM

There's not really any reason to get this, unless you really want to hold a gun-like object while you play. It doesn't add any new functionality, and using the remote and nunchuck without this plastic housing isn't going to make your game experience any worse. In fact it would probably make it better, as you can rest one hand at your side while you point with the other.

HaleysComet: Sep 10th 2007; 6:49PM

As a Wii and 360 fanboy I'm embrassed by that piece of shit.

Why couldn't Nintenod have created something new and totally independent of the Wiimote and Nunchuk. That thing just looks ugly and awkward.

Love the concept...which I know isn't new but the execution is horrible. All they had to do was make a badass looking gun and have a slot in it for the Wiimote perhaps.

I just hope Nintendo was smart enough to put Online Mode in Brawl. Otherwise I'll be severly disappointed in them.

accidental: Sep 10th 2007; 7:33PM

They wouldn't make a separate light gun peripheral, they've already got a light gun in the Wii remote. They could make a peripheral that looks like a real gun that you slot the wii remote into but it wouldn't be a hit with the parents.

Admittedly this thing is pretty damn ugly, I liked the E3 2006 prototype much better.

Burnt Meatloaf: Sep 11th 2007; 4:37AM

True. It's funny how the words "gun" and "blaster" have a different psychological effect on people.

NvM: Sep 10th 2007; 6:49PM

As a wii gamer, i'd like to try it out.
But fuck a piece of plastic with something they made with TP's engine in 10 min.

Gimme Duck Hunt 2.

jynxycat: Sep 10th 2007; 6:54PM

Because Duck Hunt 2 would take more than 10 minutes to code.

samfish: Sep 11th 2007; 2:50AM

No it wouldn't. There's friggin' ducks in Wii Play. Practically the same damn thing.

jynxycat: Sep 10th 2007; 6:56PM

The sad thing is, people will eat this shit up. They don't realize that you're ALREADY pointing at the screen and shooting -_-

But since Nintendo calls it the "Blaster!", it's so much cooler.

Now we need the analysts to come in and tell us how this game will be as popular as Wii play.

phattie: Sep 10th 2007; 6:57PM

Looks like a piece of sh!t.

Billy Bastard: Sep 10th 2007; 6:58PM

What is so hard to understand people?

it's a unified control scheme for lightgun games.

There's about 50 different guns on the market but they all have different button configs and styles...

Almack64: Sep 11th 2007; 10:07AM

Exactly

Korova: Sep 11th 2007; 1:18PM

What exactly?

Croove55: Sep 10th 2007; 7:35PM

I'll get it just to find out if it's any good. Hell, the idea of the wii-mote itself pissed people off at first. For $20, I'm willing to see if the zapper's worth anything.

ShortFuse: Sep 10th 2007; 7:41PM

Since it doesn't look like the nunchuk can't be physically moved w/o moving the wiimote, any game that requires you to reload by shaking the nunchuk will make you move the whole thing (and misaligning your shot) per reload. that's not entirely a bad thing in the sense that would make it a little bit more realistic since you'd had to reangle your shot after reloading. but in the end, it's still a bad thing.

Mr Khan: Sep 11th 2007; 5:29PM

My guess is that this peripheral will be "recommended" for certain games where it would be more of a help, and not for those where it would be more of a hindrance

Adv2k1: Sep 10th 2007; 7:44PM

I really hope they include more than just the crossbow training, because that will help the value allot.
Zelda training
duck hunt
demo of ghost squad
demo of medal of honor 2
video of Resident Evil : UC.
Something like this could help sales allot and take little if no time to make.

J-Guy: Sep 10th 2007; 7:49PM

I agree with Adv2k1's suggestions, and add that I probably won't get this.

Will definitely be picking up RE:UC, but Ghost Squad to me is like Fire Emblem to Americans. Is it any good?

BPM: Sep 10th 2007; 8:02PM

We have the Ghost Squard arcade where I work. It's pretty cool. Wii version sound be pretty nice, with 4P and WFC support.

matt: Sep 10th 2007; 8:01PM

do they make one for right handed people too?

BPM: Sep 10th 2007; 8:03PM

I don't see why there's so much whining. Normally, cheap accessories like this sell for $20 alone (look at pretty much every gun accessory already out there). For this, you at least get a nice little minigame with it, too.

I do, however, miss the style of the original Wii Zapper:
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/news/05/10/wii_gun_screen001.jpg

Ah, well.

JulyFlame: Sep 11th 2007; 1:40AM

To me, the new version looks hella less awkward than that one.

Probably why it was changed.

Mighty Shockwave: Sep 10th 2007; 8:15PM

Link's Crossbow Training!?!?! Jesus Christ, what a waste. What's next, Metroid Pinball? Oh wait...

baby sea tuna: Sep 11th 2007; 9:10AM

YOU TAKE THAT BACK!

HB96st: Sep 10th 2007; 8:38PM

Shockwave!!!! DOPE!!

captainawesome: Sep 10th 2007; 8:39PM

I liked the original design much better, you could play 2 player with yourself if it was one handed.

Night Elve: Sep 10th 2007; 9:01PM

For Fernando this probably is a AAA Accessory.

jp: Sep 10th 2007; 9:05PM

i think this is pretty cool

James: Sep 10th 2007; 10:20PM

I wouldn't mind this, I tell you that for free!

cybereality: Sep 10th 2007; 10:37PM

This is like the coolest peripheral for the Wii. Why all the hate? I just bought the unofficial Zelda sword and shield for the Wii. Good stuff. You guys are missing out.

driven2sin: Sep 10th 2007; 11:35PM

I am waiting on the BFG peripheral

mo: Sep 10th 2007; 11:53PM

WTF IS THIS!!!!

what happened to the handgun one from E3!?!? thats the one i wanted not this thing

you think it would still work if i cut off the back part??

ShadoKat: Sep 11th 2007; 1:20AM

[you think it would still work if i cut off the back part??]

My thoughts exactly. Am I the only one that finds pointing with the Wiimote awkward? Holding my wrist in that position for extended periods of time is ungainly and uncomfortable. At least with this setup you get to keep it positioned more comfortably. You still lose access to the buttons, though, and there's still the matter of accuracy (put the pointer where I'm actually POINTING, FFS!!). Other solutions suck because they're front-heavy, at least this one looks balanced. But, yeah, lose the back-end, keep the nunchuk in the off-hand, don't force them together.

nullset: Sep 11th 2007; 12:19AM

Hey, pretty cool... and, whoa, who would had ever thought that the zelda franchise was gonna go the same way as mario sometime in 2007... y'know, with all the spinoffs, and that... not that I dislike them, it's just that it's weird to see zelda this way. Ah, well, it'll sell well anyway. Even when it's just a wiimote-nunchuck shell with a pack-in. Let's all just hope this isn't the "deep in development", built specially for wii Zelda Eiji Aonuma spoke about time ago, though...

Oh, and did anybody else notice the zapper and LCT are launching for the first anniversary of the Wii? Happy anniversawii, should I say.

/stupid

Jonny: Sep 11th 2007; 1:53AM

You guys are totally missing the point. Who cares about the blaster. All I wanna do is shoot Ganon through the face with a fucking crossbow! This is one step closer to the post-apocalyptic Zelda that I've been waiting for. You know, the one where there's some kind of crazy holocaust that ends the world that we live in and Hyrule is born from the ashes and Link rides a motorcycle and the license plate is "EPONA". Give me THAT Zelda!