Warning: you are now entering a Wii Fanboy nostalgia zone; if we get wrapped up in jabbering about our wholesome childhoods over the next 200 words, you've been warned. The cause of this trip down memory lane? The announcement that Tomy would be bringing a Pop-Up Pirate game to WiiWare. Yay!
Pop-Up Pirate Wii will emulate the pop-ular children's board/party game, in which players would hold their breath (that bit is optional, but helps) while inserting plastic swords into a plastic barrel containing a pirate. If you chose the wrong slot, the pirate would spring out, startling everybody. As dull as it sounds now we've written it down, it was all the rage back in the '80s, before those damn computer videogame whatchoomacallits came along and ruined everything.
Like other board games of our childhood that relied on a steady hand (such as Buckaroo and Operation), we're not yet certain that a videogame version will capture the same ridiculous levels of tension, but still, three cheers for Tomy for at least trying! The chunky, colorful visuals are a great start, in our opinion.
Also on Nintendo of Japan's WiiWare page: Simple Series Vol. 2 The Number Puzzle Neo. If ever a series was designed especially for WiiWare, the cheap-but-cheerful Simple series would be it. Both of these will launch next Tuesday in Japan for 500 Wii Points each.
Four new WiiWare titles came down the tubes in Europe and Australia today, and the selection couldn't be more diverse. Art Style: Cubello and Strong Bad Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands you'll already know about, but CueSports and Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam are more mysterious beasts. The former looks promising, the latter, er, not particularlygreat, according to the few reviews that are about.
"All formats – Xbox Live, WiiWare, PlayStation Network – are all viable formats for us," Square Enix US president John Yamamoto specified. As the team -- currently comprising three people -- grows, the focus will expand to middleware and to a wider variety of original games on all formats. The middleware research, as well as the connections with Western studios, should ensure that future Square Enix titles can be developed in a timely manner. For now, at least, we can hope for a second WiiWare game!
Those online Tetris Party tournaments won't just enhance your fearsome internet reputation -- they'll also offer Wii Points as prizes, a pretty awesome way of keeping player interest high. The first tournament kicks off December 1st, and contains four rounds, each featuring one of Tetris Party's eighteen variations. After you complete a round, the game will give you a rank and confirmation code, which you can register at the official Tetris Party tournament site. Perform strongly over all four rounds, and you could win!
Five hundred prizes are up for grabs (though how many points will be given away isn't known), and we're fairly sure this is a global contest -- there's no mention of regional restrictions in the press release. Skip past the break for start dates, end dates, and other details of the first tournament, then get practicing!
Cave Storyremake developer Nicalis has been spreading exclusive content around the web, turning our daily news crawling into a delightful Cave Story scavenger hunt. The latest release is this screenshot found on WiiWare World, featuring the updated, redrawn graphics.
We have feared that the increased definition in the sprites and environments would change too much of Cave Story's unique look, but Pixel knows what he is doing. The new look is more detailed, but still retro -- it just looks like somebody sharpened the focus.
If you haven't tried Cave Story yet, don't worry about waiting for the WiiWare version. Play the freeware game now. You'll be ready to start again when the Wii game comes out.
Gallery: Cave Story (WiiWare)
We're not going to stop talking about Cave Story any time soon. You may as well read up on it and join the discussion!
We first heard about Bruiser & Scratch, the WiiWare puzzle game designed by the ex-Naughty Dog staff at Steel Penny Games a long time ago, before there was a WiiWare. The company sent out a press release today announcing that they plan to release the game in December.
Bruiser & Scratch is a matching puzzle game in which players shove items around on a chessboard in order to match pairs of identical items, which then form a single piece. And that's about all we know. The developers talk about the game a bit in their interview with WiiWare World, but even now we barely know anything about even the basics of the game. Which is kind of exciting.
The leaves have turned, the days have gotten shorter, and the wind is starting to sting just a bit -- it's TIKI TIME! At least, according to RealNetworks, who has announced a new WiiWare puzzler called Tiki Towers for release next month.
Sort of like a tropical World of Goo, Towers charges players with defeating the tribes antagonizing your island. You fight, obviously, by directing monkeys to build towers out of bamboo and other tropical-style materials. Your monkeys can counter evil spells with their own spells, which require BananaMana generated from monkey chants.
Tiki Towers is scheduled for a December 8 release. In a bold move, RealNetworks has planned a simultaneous release on WiiWare, iPhone, and other mobile platforms. Which means that it would really sting if Nintendo randomly changed the release date.
Following the first, second, and third installments in SBCG4AP, I found myself wondering if the fourth episode could keep the pace of the first three. And it's pretty evident in the first few moments of the game that this is another episode that is setting the bar for humor a bit higher. Frankly, they gave me the whole tub of popcorn, but I only needed the edge.
Just as we all found out last week, today marks the release of the fourth episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. Oh, and we're also getting a bunch of other games. This week, seriously, has a lot of games. Head on past the break for the full list.
Also, our apologies. There likely won't be a VC Monday Madness video today, but we'll try to get it up as soon as we can. Sorry!
Frontier Developments' WiiWare launch title LostWinds remains one of the highlights of the lineup ... in the US, Europe, and Australia. Good news for Japanese Wii owners: the platformer is finally scheduled for release in December, for 1,000 Wii Points. Good news for Frontier Developments (although we suspect they've heard this): Square Enix picked up the publishing rights to the game for Japan -- whatever it means to "publish" a WiiWare game.
LostWinds, which was published in other regions by Frontier themselves, will be the second WiiWare release from Square Enix, followingFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, and the first Square Enix WiiWare release from an external developer. We know we'd be pleased if a big, prestigious publisher like that showed confidence in our game! And if our game existed!
We're always looking for new games to enjoy. We've got plenty of other WiiWare reviews, if you're into that kind of thing.. If you're so crazy that you want to go to the store and buy something when you could be playing World of Goo orMega Man 9, we can help with that, too.
You all know how we love puzzle games. This new WiiWare title that just released in Japan, Bomb Tapper, looks like gaming bliss. Josh over at WiiFolder was kind enough to put together some footage of the title, which we've gone ahead and embedded past the break due to player limitations. We're not sure of the odds this could ever make its way to North America, but we're willing to do unsavory acts in the hope that it would sometime in the future.
High Voltage and Yuke's are combining their considerable powers to bring us Evasive Space, a brand new WiiWare title, in January. Appropriately, screens or footage of the game have evaded us so far, aside from a slightly natty logo. Yes, we know you like posts to have pretty pictures, because we like those too, but that's the cruel, harsh reality of life for you.
We have some details, though, even if they are merely word-based. Evasive Space will be a "top-down shooter," one with twenty missions and a pilot called Konki, whose ship players will control with the infrared pointer capabilities of the Wiimote. There'll also be local multiplayer for you and three friends, and online leaderboards. High Voltage is growing ratherfond of WiiWare, while Yuke's is becoming fond of making not-wrestling games, two developments we welcome.
After thoroughly enjoying 2D Boy's World of Goo, we decided that just playing and loving the game was not enough. So, we shot some questions over to Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler from the indie start-up. Imagine our surprise when they actually answered them all! So, head past the break and read our interview with these talented lads.
We love you, 2D Boy. Yes, you, Ron Carmel and Kyle Gabler. As if the brilliant, brilliantWorld of Goo wasn't already enough to make us swoon, the hunkydreamy dynamic duo have done something that bigger companies should do more: they've actually listened to the people who buy their games.
Before today, World of Goo was all set to be a retail title in Europe, a decision that brought about a backlash, due to the added expense. Carmel heard the outcry, because he recently told Gamasutra: "We've caught some flak for [the decision]. Gamers were kind of annoyed. Apparently, we had no idea about this, but European gamers often feel like they're getting screwed, because games arrive late and cost more." Too true!
So now, World of Goo is coming to WiiWare in Europe also! A post on the 2D Boy blog reveals that it should be coming in December, and for probably the same price (1500 points, and worth every one). And what of the extra sixth chapter that Europe is getting as a consolation prize? We're going to totally speculate that it will be made available as DLC, in which case North America could get the missing section after all. Everybody wins!
Good news, fans of SBCG4AP. Episode 4, Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective, will hit WiiWare this coming Monday, November 17th. If you've not checked out the previous 3 episodes, then you really need to get on that. We've had nothingbutfun with those episodes and, like many of you, are looking forward to this Monday.
Head into the gallery for some images from the upcoming episode, then cruise past the break for a trailer from Dangeresque 3. It's worth it, we assure you. Then (we're so demanding today!), keep an eye on this web site for more Dangeresque 3 goodies.
Warning: you are now entering a Wii Fanboy nostalgia zone; if we get wrapped up in jabbering about our wholesome childhoods over the next 200 words, you've been warned. The cause of this trip down memory lane? The announcement that Tomy would be bringing a Pop-Up Pirate game to WiiWare. Yay!
