Metacritic has named the best Wii games of 2008.  Super Smash Brothers Brawl tops the list of compiled reviews.  That is not a surprise.  The big surprise is that a WiiWare title takes the number two position in the list.  It is interesting that 2D games are making a resurgence through games such as MegaMan 9 and World of Goo.  Gamasutra also named World of Goo the #2 game of 2008 and it was competing against games on other consoles.

World of Goo, developed by 2D Boy, is a puzzle physics game with lots of black gooballs.  The game has five quirky chapters, each containing several levels of oddity.  There is also a bonus meta-game called World of Goo.  There is also a bonus game called World of Goo at the end.  WiiWare World gave the game 10/10, saying “Not only is World of Goo easily the best WiiWare release to date, it’s also proof that you don’t need a large development team or millions of dollars to create an outstanding video game.”

Check out the World of Goo video below:

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Rock Band 2 squeezed through a release date right before Christmas.  Were you able to pick up a copy yet?  One of the new features in Rock Band 2 for Wii is the ability to download new songs.  In the previous version, that could only be done on the xBox 360 and PS3 versions of the game.  If you did pick up the Wii version, you might be asking how to get the DLC.  It isn’t there yet.

There has been some confusion around when Harmonix will open up Rock Band 2 Wii for DLC.  Harmonix is now addressing this issue.  In a post in the official forums, a developer wrote “final testing stages and Harmonix is working as fast as possible to deliver the 20 free bonus songs for Rock Band 2, plus an additional 30 songs from the Rock Band DLC Catalog”.

No official date was giving, but you should probably expect early 2009.

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Kids are freaking out about the Nintendo Wii. Ah, I remember those days when my family first received an NES for Christmas. It is hilarious to see kids today freak out about getting a Wii. We gave out daughter an Ice Blue Nintendo DS and you should have seen her eyes light up!

Most important… They won’t shoot their eyes out like a Red Rider BB Gun; however, it might rot some brains.

via Kotaku

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This week’s releases for the Wii.

• Rock Band 2
• Deal or No Deal
• Yamaha Supercross
• Deer Drive
• Ultimate Shooting Collection
• Garfield Gets Real
• M&M’s Beach Party
• Six Flags Fun Park

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Sega released a new MadWorld “holiday” trailer. The trailer takes pains to censor out possibly offense, ultra-violent parts of the action. I specifically appreciate the ending that ties in a holiday theme. Nice touch!

Madworld is part of the future lineup of core titles coming from Sega along with The Conduit and The House of the Dead: Overkill. MadWorld is a very stylized Wii title. It looks like a punk, comic mash-up of Frank Miller’s Sin City and The Running Man movie. See our previous preview of MadWorld.

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Deadly Creatures is at the top of our list of hard-core games coming as a Wii exclusive.  Unfortunately, that list looks like it is moving into 2009.  (BTW - We’re planning a follow-up post on that theme)  THQ and Rainbow Studios did have an October and then December release dates planned at one time; however, that release has been pushed back until early February.

In the adventure/fighting game, you play as a Tarantula and a Scorpion in a third person.  The creatures explore a hostile desert landscape and fight for survival.  From the clips we’ve seen, the developer do an amazing job of recreating the world, but make it feel extremely foreign because it is viewed from the perspective of tiny creatures.  You can crawl up walls, ceilings, and subterranean areas.  The characters have to battle it out against insects, creatures, and eventually humans.

Check out the video below:

Looks good!

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Just in time for our Holiday wish list… Harmonix announced today that the Wii version of Rock Band 2 will be hitting stores on December 18th.  This includes the Wii Rock Band 2 Special Edition bundle, the individual game, standalone drums, and standalone guitar.  Harmonix also confirmed that the Wii will eventually see all the downloadable songs that are currently available on the xBox 360 version of the game.  They will start releasing songs shortly after the release on a weekly basis.  Harmonix will start with the 20 free songs already released on other consoles.

Rock Band 2 should be a very different experience from the first version on the Wii according to the IGN game preview.  The first Rock Band release on the Wii was a quick port of the feature-lacking PS2 game.  Rock Band 2 for the Wii will have a lot more in common with the xBox 360 and Playstation 3 versions.  The game will have tour challenges, quickplay, customizable set lists, drum trainer, and a character creator.  Best of all, Rock Band 2 will have the downloadable content and online tournaments, “Battle of the Bands”, that were missing from the previous installment.

Why is Rock Band 2 a big deal on the Wii?  The music game catagory has been wildly popular among a wide array of games including hard-core players, first-time gamers, and families.  This fits the Wii demographics pretty well and sales for music games have shown it.  Guitar Hero: World Tour, Rock Band’s biggest competitor, sold just slightly more xBox 360 units than the Wii version of the game.  However, it does appear that sales of music games are slowing from the peak experienced around Guitar Hero III.  Punch Jump reported that initial sales for Rock Band 2 for Wii are starting to climb:

Advanced sales for MTV Games and Harmonix Inc.’s Rock Band 2 for Nintendo Co.’s Wii soared at retailer Amazon.com on Wed. prior to the title’s Dec. 18 release.  On Wed., sales for Rock Band 2 Wii increased 4,199 percent to rank as the No. 132 product in Amazon’s Video Games division.

Check out the Wii Rock Band 2 action below:

Check out the Rock Band 2 Wii list of songs:

1. The Main Drag - A Jagged Gorgeous Winter
2. Motörhead - Ace of Spades ‘08
3. Grateful Dead - Alabama Getaway
4. The Replacements - Alex Chilton
5. Pearl Jam - Alive
6. Avenged Sevenfold - Almost Easy
7. The Guess Who - American Woman
8. Journey - Any Way You Want It
9. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
10. Joan Jett - Bad Reputation
11. Metallica - Battery
12. Steely Dan - Bodhisattva
13. Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son
14. System of a Down - Chop Suey!
15. Mastodon - Colony of Birchmen
16. The Offspring - Come Out and Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)
17. Speck - Conventional Lovera
18. Squeeze - Cool for Cats
19. Lush - De-Luxe
20. Disturbed - Down with the Sickness
21. Nirvana - Drain You
22. Beck - E-Pro
23. Foo Fighters - Everlong
24. Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
25. Dinosaur Jr. - Feel the Pain
26. Modest Mouse - Float On
27. Anarchy Club - Get Clean
28. AFI - Girl’s Not Grey
29. Rise Against - Give It All
30. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away
31. Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
32. Cheap Trick - Hello There
33. Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
34. Social Distortion - I Was Wrong
35. The Muffs - Kids in America
36. Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
37. AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
38. Bon Jovi - Livin’ on a Prayer
39. Presidents of the United States of America - Lump
40. Alice in Chains - Man in the Box
41. Tenacious D - Master Exploder
42. Jane’s Addiction - Mountain Song
43. Lit - My Own Worst Enemy
44. The Donnas - New Kid in School
45. Bang Camaro - Night Lies
46. Panic at the Disco - Nine in the Afternoon
47. Linkin Park - One Step Closer
48. Blondie - One Way or Another
49. Lacuna Coil - Our Truth
50. Judas Priest - Painkiller
51. Dream Theater - Panic Attack
52. Interpol - PDA
53. Megadeth - Peace Sells
54. The Who - Pinball Wizard
55. L7 - Pretend We’re Dead
56. Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
57. Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
58. The Allman Brothers Band - Ramblin’ Man
59. Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
60. That Handsome Devil - Rob the Prez-O-Dent
61. Steve Miller Band - Rock’n Me
62. Ratt - Round and Round
63. Guns N’ Roses - Shackler’s Revenge
64. Bad Company - Shooting Star
65. Breaking Wheel - Shoulder to the Plow
66. Beastie Boys - So What’cha Want
67. Testament - Souls of Black
68. Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky
69. Soundgarden - Spoonman
70. The Sterns - Supreme Girl
71. Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue
72. Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot
73. Rage Against the Machine - Testify
74. Paramore - That’s What You Get
75. Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
76. Rush - The Trees (Vault Edition)
77. Smashing Pumpkins - Today
78. Devo - Uncontrollable Urgea
79. Abnormality - Visions
80. The Go-Go’s - We Got the Beat
81. Libyans - Welcome to the Neighborhood
82. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Where’d You Go?
83. Billy Idol - White Wedding (Part 1)
84. Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know

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Did you think Wii Fit was a one hit wonder?  Think again.  EA SPORTS is getting in on the fitness action too.  The introduction of the Wii was sure to break the mold for what we thought gaming was supposed to be like.  The fitness gaming catagory is starting to explode with titles including Wii Fit, Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009, My Fitness Couch Coach, and now EA SPORTS Active.  Could fitness games be in a early breakout position similar to where music games like Guitar Hero were a few years ago?

EA SPORTS Active will be a more Western cardiovascular approach to fitness than Wii Fit.  However, you can definately tell the developers got a lot of inspiration from Wii Fit and built on the concept.  The game was developed in collaboration with fitness experts and it sounds like it will be part of a product line of fitness products from EA for the Wii.

The game will feature a wide variety of interactive activities combined into a circuit that target both the upper and lower body as well as cardio, and supports two players to allow family or friends to get fit together.  It will also offer progress tracking and a wide array intensity in the workouts.  There will be a ”30 Day Challenge” mode aims to get players in shape through 20 minute workouts with the guidance of a virtual trainer.  It is pretty obvious that the target audience is women.  Not your normal gaming audience.  Nice to see the target audience for gaming expanding.

EA SPORTS Active is set to ship this spring.

Get a first look at EA SPORTS Active:

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The stylistic melodies of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, the pioneers of alternative rock, Nirvana, make their Guitar Hero downloadable content debut with the Nirvana Track Pack.  As promised, three Nirvana songs were released for Guitar Hero: World Tour today for the Wii.  The DLC release features ”Negative Creep”, ”Sliver” , and the band’s final single ”You Know You’re Right”  Each song will put you back 200 Wii Points.

Nirvana - You Know You’re Right” - GHWT:

[via PR]

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The Wii has really brought out the imagination for many game publishers. It has also stirred the imagination of many companies building accessories. There have been quite a few silly attachments to the Wii remote already. Here is a list of the top 10 wacky Wii accessories that you can find in stores.

1. Thrustmaster Glow Saber Duo Pack This is a two pack of lightsabers. What could be better to get your Jedi on? Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed were recently released and these could come in handy. This assumes you have a friend to come over and duel. Comic the Insult Dog once asked a kid in a Darth Vader costume “Which one of these buttons do you push to call your mom to pick you up?”.

2. Wii Cooking Kit Do you smell what Mama is cooking up? One holder is shaped in the mold of a frying pan while the other is a combination of a spatula, a knife and tongs. These might come in handing for the Cooking Mama: Cook Off and the new Cooking Mama World Kitchen Wii games. Cooking Mama gets mad if you don’t prepare your dish correctly. Personally, WiiPop hopes that the pieces a safe for actual cooking. If we learn how to cook, it might be useful.

3. Play Poms There are now (count them) two cheerleader video games on the Wii: We Cheer and All Star Cheer Squad. We can just image Kirsten Dunst saying “Bring It On” to the Wii Play Poms by dreamGEAR. These sparkly pom poms allow you to insert the Wii Remote and nunchuck into them and have fun. Can you say B-A-N-A-N-A-S?

4. Wii Grand Slam Sports Pack This is the set for those player who are very serious about Wii Sports and Mario Kart. It comes with a Wii tennis racket, a baseball bat, a golf club and a Wii steering wheel. All of these items attach to the Wii Remote. I’ve found that it is too difficult to accidentally smack family members with the Wii Remote when we are playing Wii Sport Tennis. Adding the tennis racket attachment should make it much easier.

5. Wii 5-In-1 Fitness Bundle This product includes a rechargeable battery pack, USB charging cable, jeli sleeve, a fitness mat, travel bag, and 1 pair of textured foot socks. Rechargeable battery pack and USB charging cable = good. jeli sleeve = pretty nice. fitness mat = good because nobody likes sweaty floors. Textured food socks = wait… They threw those in there because 5-in-1 sounds better than 4-in-1.

6. Wii Wireless Sensor Bar OK, I admit that I never got the reason why Wii owners might need a wireless sensor bar. The sensor bar usually sits on the TV… which is also where it attaches to the Wii console. However, the feedback on the Nyko Sensor Bar is good. People that have bigger entertainment setup and a lot of distance between the TV and their couch claim that the sensor increases the distance and accuracy of the Wii Remotes.

7. Wii Shot Gun The product description says that the shotgun sports a autentic mold, yet the white Wii color helps prevents it from being mistaken for an actual shotgun. Obviously, this could come in very handy if you like on rails shooting games such as Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Ghost Squad, and House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return.

8. Wii Airplane Controller Stand There are quite a few flight games for the Wii including Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, WWII Aces, and the upcoming Tom Clancy’s HAWX. However, the biggest strike against the Airplane Controller Stand is that most of the current flight games don’t use Wii controls that work properly with this stand.

9. Wii Boxing Gloves The boxing game in Wii Sports is the most sweat inducing game in the bundle. I think it was the first step toward Wii Fit. There are other boxing games out for the Wii. Victorious Boxers: Revolution, FaceBreaker K.O. Party, and soon Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution all have gesture based controls. Unlike Wii Sports Boxing all of these games include boxer that actually have arms attached to their bodies.

10. Wii Surgical Kit OK, I think there are only two games on the Wii where these might fit. The Trauma Center games have player work through a number of surgeries. The Wii Surgical Kit attachment has stethoscope, tweezers, scalpel, syringe and thermometer parts. We remember the intense gameplay of the Trauma Center games. Not sure how well the surgical kit would work. The constant switching between surgical tools in the game could become tedious.

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