Granted, some might say there's a lot of -- oh, what's the polite term being used -- "shovelware" coming to the Wii. Evidenced today by the mega-list released by Nintendo, but there's a game that even got the guys over at Wii Fanboy a little skeeved: Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 was a great game ... in 2005. As Wii Fanboy puts it, other than giving it motion controls, "what other improvements could Ubisoft hope to make to the title to validate it on the Wii?"
An extreme possibility is Wi-Fi play, as multiplayer was a component of the original game. Mostly though, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 gives the haters more ammunition that the Wii is a great repository for old games "now with waggle." Nintendo should definitely attempt to craft good relationships with third-party developers and not continue down this path of "Nintendo is all about first party," but it's hard to see how allowing three year old games to make a second run with added Wiimote support is helping. It's still early enough in the Wii's life for this to be minimal, but third-party ports of old games will hopefully not be on the Wii justification list in 2008.
Ubisoft has revealed the release dates for all of its major 2007 titles, asking the majority of them to form a neat line in November and proceed to remove the contents of your wallet one by one. You're more than welcome to make a fuss about it, but having the sneaky men of Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell: Conviction within grasp of your neck renders such action unwise.
A more notable entry in the release schedule (as posted by Eurogamer) is Free Radical's sci-political first-person shooter, Haze, previously described as "leading on PS3" in a display of timed exclusivity:
Haze (PS3) -- 23 November
Oh, you'll be wanting the release date for the other platforms as well:
Haze (Xbox 360, PC) -- 30 November [Update: Oh dear, Ubisoft has removed the Xbox 360 and PC versions of Haze from the current release list. We're waiting to hear back from Ubisoft on the matter.]
Ubisoft's Ubidays event in Paris spawned almost as many video trailers as it did announcements. Thanks to the wonders of embeddable streaming video, we're able to put them all in a single post for your viewing pleasure and/or displeasure, depending on the game.
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (Xbox 360)
Loosely based on the 837,212 episodes of popular anime, Naruto, this cel-shaded action game seems to strongly encourage you to leap through trees, punch older men and generally behave like a ninja who's under the constant scrutiny of kids. No sudden decapitations like that other guy.
Our slumber party pals over at DS Fanboy have caught word that Ubisoft's World War II epic, Brothers in Arms, will be making its way over to the Nintendo DS sometime in the near future.
Though short on details, they can confirm that the touch screen battle will feature 3 different campaigns that span across 16 missions and several countries of war. It may also include a lot of Nazi killing. Just a hunch.
Hop on over to their side of the fence for some good ol' fashioned blurry photos and speculation.
Add Gearbox (Brothers in Arms series) to the growing list of third party Wii developers. Speaking with IGN, company president Randy Pitchford confirmed, "Gearbox Software is enthusiastically supporting the Wii."
Currently, Gearbox is developing Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway for PS3 and Xbox 360. It's unclear if a version of this same title will be released for Wii -- similar to what's being done with Call of Duty 3 -- or if Gearbox will design an entirely new game for Nintendo's console, which, if this is the case, will still likely be a Brothers in Arms installment. Several months ago, an alleged Ubisoft (publisher of Brothers in Arms) release list was leaked onto the internet and featured an unnamed Brothers in Arms title for Wii.
