WiiWare live, no Virtual Console update this week
In more disappointing news, Nintendo is letting WiiWare get all the spotlight this week and refraining from new Virtual Console releases. If you're truly broken up, just pretend that two games were released that you really don't care about. Considering what the line-up's been lately, you should be in pretty good practice.
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, 1,500 Wii Points): FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a King takes a legendary franchise and launches it into the realm of simulation gaming. Players are challenged to rebuild a kingdom, leading its young king on a path of discovery through an adventure bristling with mystery and intrigue.
- LostWinds (Frontier Development, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone – Mild Fantasy Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): A fresh, enchanting platform adventure that puts the power of the wind in the palm of your hand – from raging tornados to the gentlest breeze. You'll wield your Wii Remote™ controller to power Toku's jumps and glides, suspend and smash enemies, meet friends and solve puzzles using LostWinds' novel, intuitive and playful control system.
- Defend your Castle (XGen Studios, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone – Cartoon Violence, 500 Wii Points): Defend your Castle takes place on a grassy plain surrounded by invaders. You are the commander of your castle, and it is your duty to fling the invading enemies sky-high, watching them plummet to their demise. As you progress, add powerful spells and upgrades to your arsenal for repelling the attacks. How long can you hold them off?
- Pop (Nnooo, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 700 Wii Points): Pop bubbles to score points and stop the timer from running out. Pop can be enjoyed by anyone – casual gamers can simply play to pop bubbles and keep the game moving, whereas advanced players will need to pick their shots rapidly and accurately and generate combos to maximize their score.
- V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack (High Voltage Software®, Inc., 1-4 players, Rated T for Teen – Simulated Gambling, 700 Wii Points): V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack re-creates the casino experience, with fully animated players and a realistic Las Vegas dealer. Single players can increase their bankrolls, while multiple players can engage in a head-to-head mini-blackjack tournament.
- TV Show King (Gameloft, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): TV Show King transforms your living room into a real TV quiz show studio where you'll face the challenge of answering more than 3,000 questions across six different categories. Compete against family and friends and use your Wii Remote controller in original ways to make it to the finals to see who can win the greatest amount of cash in one final, deciding duel.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
koehler83 @ May 12th 2008 9:55AM
This better not start a trend of WiiWare over Vitual Console..
nastysquar3d @ May 12th 2008 9:57AM
Anyone download LostWinds already and have some impressions?
Dash @ May 12th 2008 2:50PM
I just got it and it's really good. It's of tremendous quality for it's price, with some sort of old-school indie feel, if you know what I mean. It beats some retail games, and for a great price.
I'm not playing it more just because I managed to be the best of the world in POP (behind only the developers score). Let's see how long I get to stay with the title.
baby sea tuna @ May 12th 2008 9:58AM
I know it's probably a dumb question, but are these games going to have demos? Not that I have any internal memory left anyway.
Guess I could always delete Opera...
Markez (MKWii 4339-2878-5120) @ May 12th 2008 10:19AM
Was kind of wondering that myself, don't know if there's anywhere to go for reviews at this point either...
Roto13 @ May 12th 2008 10:47AM
If you're going to bitch about a lack of demos, don't try to hide it behind fake ignorance. That's just annoying.
Vidikron (FU) @ May 12th 2008 10:52AM
@roto13
Or maybe he actually wants to know? Maybe? People making assumptions are even more annoying.
Blazur @ May 12th 2008 11:00AM
Always doesn't hurt to check IGN, it's possible they've done reviews on these games. Demo's I'm guessing are unlikely.
Roto13 @ May 12th 2008 11:41AM
Look at his comment history. He knows very well there are no WiiWare demos. It's a valid complaint, but pulling crap like that is just trolling.
Jody Anthony (cookingrebels.com) @ May 12th 2008 9:58AM
played about 10 minutes of TV Game King and 20 minutes of Lost Winds. Both are actually really fun (Lost Winds moreso)
I can definitely see me playing the quiz game with my wife, she's a sucker for trivia games.
Lost Winds...the only thing I really have to say about this is "buy this game now". So good.
SWAT Kats are back! @ May 12th 2008 4:38PM
I assumed it wouldn't disappoint, the only variable left was what magnitude of good it would be
samfish @ May 12th 2008 9:59AM
I can't wait to try Lost Winds. I keep hearing so much good about it.
Kinda blah on the other titles, though.
FOXHOUND @ May 12th 2008 10:12AM
I'm in the same boat there... but just so damned wary over Wii titles these days compared to the other two consoles. Without a demo or a decent gameplay video, it's hard to buy a game for it without skepticism(speaking as a generalization on all titles, not LOST WINDS specifically).
And since I doubt we'll hear of new system colours to be sold at retail for the Wii anytime soon, I'm opting to just mod it myself and pick up one of those XCM case shells. The Wii's pretty durable(an ongoing joke around friends is that it's made of recycled "Playskool™ Plastic" and "Tonka Tough" ;D), so there's no worries there.
DonWii @ May 12th 2008 10:37AM
Nintendo Channel has trailers/promos for all of the WiiWare games.
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ May 12th 2008 4:30PM
It's called doing research. You don't need demos to do that.
chacho89 @ May 12th 2008 10:03AM
So no Doctor MArio RX today. Nintendo lied.
John Elar @ May 12th 2008 10:03AM
This is a great post. It is a very nice blog too. I add it to my favorites. Thank you
NATO_Duke @ May 12th 2008 10:04AM
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is the one I'm most interested in. Seeing how its FF I imagine the reviews will be generally positive.
Markez (MKWii 4339-2878-5120) @ May 12th 2008 10:14AM
"In more disappointing news"
???
TVGenius @ May 12th 2008 10:17AM
I'm surprised there's no Dr. Mario on that list. Especially seeing as how in one of the Wii Channel videos, it shows the WiiWare page for Dr. Mario and it shows a release date of 5/12/08.
Obie @ May 12th 2008 10:55AM
No idea, the block system is retarded.
Obie @ May 12th 2008 10:22AM
Here are the file sizes for you all:
LostWinds: 259 blocks
Pop: 110 blocks
Defend your Castle: 121 blocks
TV Quiz: 290 blocks
Black Jack: 207 blocks
I don't have the space for the ones I want, and I am not deleting anything off my Wii, time for N to get their head out of their ass and give us better storage.
DonWii @ May 12th 2008 10:36AM
FFCC is 287 blocks.
Go White Sox and Go other Team @ May 12th 2008 10:53AM
How many total memory blocks does the Wii have?
NATO_Duke @ May 12th 2008 11:24AM
Wii=2163 blocks
shawn @ May 12th 2008 1:10PM
i totally agree,nintendo really needs to give us some storage options cuz people are not gonna wanna keep deleting things and then putting them back...ive already had to start deleting things and it seems im gonna have to do some more deleting if i want that lostwinds and trivia game
SWAT Kats are back! @ May 12th 2008 4:40PM
http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2008/05/01/iwata-were-looking-into-the-flash-memory-situation/
now that they've acknowledged that it is a "situation" I doubt they are going to do nothing about it
It's Nintendo though, you never know
ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ May 13th 2008 1:27AM
If they make a Nintendo-branded SD card, some executive is going to have to die.
thispaceforsale @ May 12th 2008 10:27AM
lostwinds looks awesome and defend your castle could be fun multiplayer mayhem
Kujel @ May 12th 2008 10:52AM
May 12 wasn't circled on my calender but May 16 is :D
John Z @ May 12th 2008 11:08AM
YAY!*
BEN Murray @ May 12th 2008 11:15AM
Hmmm
Wonder if this means Europeans (like me) wont get a VC release this week as we generally follow the US
Zak Canard @ May 12th 2008 3:13PM
Europe's definitely getting VC stuff this week and hopefully next week too, we've got at least one more week of the "Hanabi Festival" to go. Our Wiiware launch is on the 20th, a Tuesday of all days. Whether or not that'll mean all Euro Wiiware titles will land on Tuesdays I guess it's still a little too early to tell.
mr mobius @ May 12th 2008 11:19AM
When is Europe getting WiiWare. If it's in 3 weeks then the timing would be impecable for the end of university exams.
Zak Canard @ May 13th 2008 2:45AM
Next Tuesday (the 20th) apparently, Nintendo Channel on the 30th.
Russ Carroll @ May 12th 2008 11:37AM
Played about 15 minutes of Lost Winds and was very pleased. The control of the wind is very intuitive. The environments are lush and beautiful. My only concern is that it will be over too quickly...seems absolutely fantastic...Dewy and NiGHTS should have taken a lesson.
JT @ May 12th 2008 11:42AM
dr. mario plz. kthx.
Jonah5678 @ May 12th 2008 11:43AM
Nuts, I thought Toki Tori was coming out today... all of the gaming press sites have it listed as May 12th. I wonder if there's another update coming later today? Probably not. :(
velocitystrike @ May 12th 2008 12:05PM
They're probably going a bit of the launch title schedule so they've got sufficient games to make available for the next few weeks.
Kewlrats @ May 12th 2008 12:07PM
I will be buying 3 of the games this week: FF:CC, Lost Winds, and Defend Your Castle Nice variety in those 3... the others are pretty blah.
Rob Accomando @ May 12th 2008 12:24PM
still no external storage solution OR direct play off the SD card? wtf Nintendo?
Blue_Falcon @ May 12th 2008 12:30PM
LostWinds is a must-buy.
Fernando Rocker @ May 12th 2008 1:00PM
LostWinds... amazing title. That's dedication of the developers...
This 50MB WiiWare title is a lot better than crappy third party shovelware games like Ninjabread Man and stuff.
I want also: Strong Bad, Eternity's Child, Gyrostarr, Animales de la Muerte, Toki Tori, Dr. Mario and World of Goo for now.
Evan @ May 12th 2008 1:30PM
So far, so good. I was worried that WiiWare would get overrun with waggle mini-games the way Xbox Live Arcade is overrun with generic space shooters, but I'm pleased to see some variety and gameplay in the announced titles.
Mrblonde @ May 12th 2008 5:45PM
Now that the wiiware service has launched, they need to change the point buying system. I don't want to pay ten bucks for a thousand points when i only need one or two hundred points. If you have only like 200 points and you want to download FFCC, your paying pretty much getting it for twenty bucks cause you have to buy two thousand points. They need to make it where you can select how many points you want to buy. It works out too cause a hundred points is one buck. I know alot of people are with me on this.
Mighty Shockwave @ May 13th 2008 12:51AM
Dude, you can use a credit card to by a specific number of points. Where have you been the past year and a half?
ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ May 13th 2008 1:30AM
@Mighty Shockwave
Elitist geeks give fanboys a bad name.
Welcome thy gamer, otherwise you'd be shunning a noob to the pits of fear-mongering.
Tirisfal @ May 13th 2008 8:10AM
You can only buy in 1,000 point increments with your credit card. So wanting to buy 100 points is impossible.
sad robot @ May 12th 2008 11:51PM
im excited for this wiiware, im getting lost winds, world of goo, and the strong bad game when those are out. go nintendo!....finally
Tirisfal @ May 13th 2008 1:54AM
Crystal Chronicles is really addicting. More so than one would think. You want to stop playing but you just can't.
My only complaint with it is the amount of add-on stuff you have to buy. All said and done you're really shelling out 3,000 points for everything instead of the original 1,500. I was even more disappointed to see that you have to buy the other races when I'm pretty sure I read something about them being free in the US release. But, aside from that, definitely worth getting, and it's still a great game even without the addons.
Lost Winds is also a must buy, but I have nothing really to elaborate from what has already been said.