Before we get with the post, a note of thanks to all the commenters that, until this morning at least, were very civil and kind in their discussion of this week's webcomic wrapup. Sure, we've all thought about the dirty things Wario would make us do if Smooth Moves was not an all-ages Nintendo title. VG Cats' Scott Ramsoomair makes the latest crack on the joke and takes top titles.
Second place goes to the Penny Arcade Sony satires, while third was apprehended by Scott Johnson of Extra Life.
Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any gaming comics you stumble upon this week!
Nintendo has been bestowed the proud honor of a Spielwarenmesse award, selected as the 'Trend + Lifestyle' winner of this year's annual Nuremberg International Toy Fair. Judges chose the Wii console along with "Wario Wear" for the duo's ability to "encourage playing PC games in groups instead of alone." Judges also found that "the product not only appeals to player types with an affinity to PCs, but also to new age groups." Hmmm, we weren't aware that Wii had become popular in the yoga scene... Maybe Nintendo should start bundling the system with a set of crystals.
Winners of a 'ToyAward' are permitted to print the 'ToyInnovation quality label' on retail boxes of winning products. Something tells us Nintendo's gonna pass.
Weally. In posting his impressions of Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, Chris Kohler at Game|Life adds yet another title to his 4:3 Hall of Shame. Joining Rayman: Raving Rabbids and Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Wario's waggle-fest only supports a 4:3 display ratio, generally known as fool fullscreen. While it's easy to agree that the lack of proper widescreen support doesn't impact on the game's fun, it still remains an annoying oversight, especially for HDTV owners.
The Wii's shunning of HDTV support is an understandable topic (and already debated to death), but inconsistent EDTV and widescreen support just seems lazy in the year 2007. Several Gamecube and PS2 games provided different display modes -- heck, a widescreen mode is one of the selling points for the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Come on Nintendo, put things in perspective here.
Smooth Moves is certainly no 'Game of the Year,' but it's hard to imagine a Wii owner who won't be adding this game to the collection. It's almost a necessity, as it unlocks all of the wonderful, albeit odd, potentials of Wii's technology. WarioWare is a madcap tutorial tool.
It's unfortunate, as Eurogamer seems to allude below, that Smooth Moves has been billed to be more than what it is (a series of microgames). This is Wii's first significant title of 2007; and Smooth Moves will have to carry the associated burden for months to come. As such, the game will surely lead to disappointment for some. Still, there's no denying that WarioWare is capable of offering the premiere Wii experience.
Gamers have WarioWare on the mind; yesterday's multiplayer footage is today's most-watched YouTube game video. But Wario haters, don't think you're out of Wario's woods yet. After a long debate, with lots of wild gesturing, we decided that the most-viewed GameTrailers video -- also WarioWare -- would take today's "hottest" crown.
The GameTrailers sequence is worth watching for its exposition about the game. Much of it is obvious to WarioWare: Smooth Moves fans, but a few new kernels of information -- like surprise Mii appearances -- pop up about the upcoming Wii game, soon to be available outside of Japan. We liked WarioWare's first GBA outing, but we've been wary of the formula since then. Maybe Smooth Moves will draw us back into the series.
Wanna do a Mario-esque superjump in Gears of War? Check out the video that has Marcus Feenix boosting himself across the map like Carl Lewis on steroids. Carrying all that gear, sporting all those muscles, you know that Feenix must weigh close to 350 lbs, so there's some serious leggage going on here. Maybe he had some bionic implants dropped in during his stint in prison. Whatever he's doing, we want to know how to practically sword-fly our COG soldiers a la Halo.
Check out the glitch-osity after the 'jump' ... get it? JUMP? HA HA HA, er ... um, yeah.
While we haven't seen it ourselves, this breakdancing glitch in Gears of War makes us want to throw down some cardboard and go to town on some Locust Horde folks. Maybe it'll be a possible Xbox Live Marketplace download as an additional kill animation in the game. Hit X to curb stomp, or press A to headpin their ass into the pavement.
Wii was recently put to the test by the BBC's Rebecca Morelle, a self-proclaimed "videogame-phobe." Looks alone were winning Morelle over until she was handed a controller and clumsily gyrated herself into embarrassment playing WarioWare. A few rounds of Wii Sports didn't help -- the awkwardness only grew. After Trauma Center and Excite Truck the playtest had improved to just "so far, so OK." Enter: Twilight Princess.
To Nintendo's surprise, it wasn't the disjointed inanity of WarioWare or the "swing away" nature of Wii Sports -- as Morelle notes, some just lack sporting ability -- that would win over the uninitiated. Instead, Morelle reveals that narrative lifted her veil of skepticism; a sense that her movements and the characters on screen were combining to create a coherent story.
Nintendo should not underestimate the power of its key franchises to command emotional attachments (like, go easies on the party games, 'kay?). Marked by intuitive control, Wii might be (so-called) videogame-phobes' best shot at understanding these narratives that we hold so close to our hearts.
Before we get with the post, a note of thanks to all the commenters that, until this morning at least, were very civil and kind in their discussion of this week's webcomic wrapup.
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