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Whoever said that video games can do no good for society, evidently hasn’t heard of the Child’s Play foundation. It was founded in 2003, and is a charity that brings video game consoles to childrens’ hospitals around the world. Nintendomarathon.com is looking to do their part and help raise money for Child’s Play.

The Nintendo Marathon is an event where three children will play Nintendo Wii/Gamecube games for 24 hours in an effort to bring awareness to the charity. The event will be streamed live through their website through a variety of webcams so you can keep up with how they’re doing. There is a widget on their home page where you can make a direct donation to Child’s Play. The Nintendo Marathon is slated to take place July 25th, 5pm UK time.

For more information or to make a donation you can visit Nintendomarathon.com. For more information on Child’s Play click here, to visit their website.

I just want to say good luck to the Nintendo Marathon gamers. As someone who’s grown up playing video games since the late 80’s, I’m glad to see them having a positive impact in the world. (If you play Mario Kart: Wii, I won’t mind hopping online and kicking butt in the name of charity).

You really got to love video game news on the internet. It’s gotten so bad that a lot of times it plays out like drama you remember from the early years of high school. This ‘he said/she said’ scenario has taken form with SEGA of America President Simon Jeffery. During an interview at E3, Jeffery let it slip that Resident Evil 5 was going to be coming to the Nintendo Wii. Of course when this happened sirens went blaring, and people were scrambling around to find more conformation.

Reggie Fils-Aime simply (jokingly) said, “Not yet”

Chris Kramer of Capcom said that Jeffery was confusing the announcement of Dead Rising on the Wii, with Resident Evil 5

In a follow up email from Jeffery, he stated that Resident Evil 5 had just been displayed earlier and was still fresh in his mind. This led to his slip up about a Resident Evil 5 Wii announcement. Just like every he said/she said fiasco, it’s impossible to know what the truth is. If they are able to bring a solid Dead Rising to the Wii, then I wouldn’t see what would stop them from doing the same with Resident Evil 5.

I know I’m putting my manhood, and ’street cred’ on the line here. In the interest of journalistic integrity I must admit that a small portion of me wants to try out the game. Most of this desire to play We Cheer stems from my love of Elite Beat Agents (EBA) on the DS. If you have a Nintendo DS, and even a small portion of love for rhythm games then you must try it out. After looking at a few gameplay videos, and pretty solid previews (although hesitant) this game looks like EBA only with a 14 year old teen girl shine slapped onto it. Most of the previews have said that the gameplay is responsive, but easy at the same time.

So here’s the question I present to you. If this game turns out to be a blast to play, I’m talking on par or even better than EBA would you sacrifice the content to play it?

Nintendo has been all about providing gamers with cryptic messages for upcoming games lately. Before it was the ’secret message’ hidden in the moon of one of their previous issues of Nintendo Power magazine. The most recent announcement (about a gaming announcement??) comes from the soon to be released issue of Nintendo Power. In it the magazine claims to have a game announcement that wasn’t shown at E3. It’s not a surprise to see Nintendo trying to bring life to their long running magazine. I just wish they’d go the way of most other magazine subscriptions and make it available online.

Anywhoo, what game are you thinking is going to be shown off in next month’s issue? Anyone who keeps up with WiiBlog should know that I would give my right ankle for it to be PunchOut.

Sonic and the Secret Rings was a game that received very mixed feelings from critics and fans alike. I consider myself in the minority but I was actually a fan of Secret Rings, but there were a few things wrong with it. Although the game brought back the amazing sense of speed that Sonic once had, the controls were a little shaky but nothing that couldn’t be fixed in a sequel….right? Going by the cover of Nintendo Power’s magazine, Sega looks to be going in a totally new direction with, Sonic and the Black Knight.

One of the major criticisms of Secret Rings is that Sonic wasn’t in his own universe anymore, but some different rendition of the Arabian Nights story. Fans were wanting Sonic to return to the Emerald Zone, instead Sonic will be in the story of King Arthur….*sigh*.

As of now the game is slated for a 2009 release. The only way I see this game being taken serious by Sonic fans is if Sega announces that the game will feature 1:1 motion controls with the Wii Remote MotionPlus attachment….or if Merlin from Disney’s The Sword in the Stone makes an appearance.

Has Sonic Ever Had Any Training With A Sword?

What’s your take on the Sonic series taking a new direction with fairy tale stories? Did anyone else like Sonic and the Secret Rings besides me?

Ok, so the dust has settled and E3 is finally over. Alot of the video game community is in an uproar over Nintendo’s presence. There are Zelda fanboys/girls that are dressed up in Link costumes ready to throw a boomerang upside Miyamoto/Reggie Fils-Aime/Cammie Dunaway’s head (ok mainly Dunaway’s). Alas, I beg all of you to put Nintendo’s keynote behind you and open your eyes to some of the great moments that happened on the conference floor. Even with the Pretty crummy presentation of Nintendo’s conference there were some great moments to be had, and today is WiiBlog.net’s Top 5 list of those moments.

5. OMG … Subliminal Under-The-Breath Announcements - I think I have Nintendo pegged when it comes to the strategy of E3 this year. They knew that the more dedicated gamers were going to be keeping an eye on their conference even after the keynote. So, instead of making some of the biggest announcements of the conference at their keynote they sprinkled them here and there on the conference floor. That way during their keynote they could make investors happy (remember this is a Media & “Business” summit), by announcing games that would appeal to a broader market. Then after the big show, they could still give gamers what they want through smaller venues.

The first big announcement was made during Nintendo’s Developer round table. Miyamoto turned journalists upside down on their heads when he uttered these three simple words (or four depending on what you consider a word), “we’re making Pikmin 3?. Then later on in an interview with IGN, Miyamoto strongly hinted that Nintendo was working on a new Punch-Out. During the interview Miyamoto talked about the Wii Remote MotionPlus accessory, and how it could be used for motion heavy games such as….’Punch-Out’.

It seems most of the exciting news coming from Nintendo is occuring after their keynote address. Last night during Nintendo’s Developer Roundtable, Miyamoto confirmed Pikmin 3. There weren’t any details given about the new game, as all Miyamoto uttered we’re these three words, “We’re making Pikmin 3?. Those three words were enough to send video game news sites into an uproar, with the usual ‘rabble rabble rabble’.

Gamers have been waiting for Pikmin 3 for a long time.

Another little tidbit of information is that Nintendo isn’t planning any DLC for Wii Music as this time. When questioned about it Nintendo said they’re focusing more on working on a means to share videos over WiiConnect24 than providing DLC.

For anyone keeping up with The Conduit, there was great news announced from High Voltage. They have officially confirmed that there will be an online component and that it will support up to 16 players simultaneously. The Conduit is also the first game other than Animal Crossing: City Folk to announce functionality with the Wii Speak microphone peripheral.

I love the way that Miyamoto handles the press, especially when he’s asked the tough questions. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him shaken up, and always seems to keep his cool. The proof can be found when he was asked about Microsoft’s unveiling of their (Mii inspired) avatars. Miyamoto smiled and said that he was flattered that Microsoft was inspired by Nintendo’s Mii creation.

The last bit of important information to surface, came from an exclusive IGN interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. Although Miyamoto didn’t officially announce the game, he gave mention to a Wii Punch-Out! game. He was talking about how the Wii MotionPlus controller would be well suited for games that require alot of movement, like a ‘Punch-Out’ game. He didn’t say that there was one coming out, but he gave mention to it (why do you tempt me so Miyamoto?).

There’s still news pouring in by the minute, so when more surfaces I’ll be sure to post it.

The first post was getting pretty large with all the videos I had been putting up. Here is Part 2, with even more great E3 Nintendo Wii videos being shown.

Monster Lab

Ever since I’ve been writing about E3, I’ve really liked using the word extravaganza. I think this might be due to the fact that I just love the way it sounds. Anyway, today on WiiBlog is a two’fer, as the news about Dead Rising needed to be posted so if you want more about that scroll down. Even though Nintendo’s keynote might have been Pretty crummy, there have been some trailers/gameplay videos that have picked up the slack.

In terms of game announcements, the biggest one came from Famitsu this week not E3 (atleast in this feeble writer’s mind). For anyone who owns a Xbox 360, you more than likely played Dead Rising. It was one of the first big releases after the 360’s launch, and was a critical/financial success. It was so successful in fact that Capcom is bringing the game to the Nintendo Wii.

‘Not another port!!!!!’ might be the phrase your saying in your head (or shouting). But after getting the low down on what Dead Rising has to offer, I’m willing to have a little faith. First, the Wii edition of Dead Rising will have exclusive content. This content so far includes, brand spanking new weapons, a new boss, and of course motion controlled attacks.

This Little Picture Doesn’t Show Much, Click The Link Below For A Better View (56k Hell…does anyone have 56k anymore?)

There have been scans of Famitsu posted, and can be viewed here. Judging by the screens in the magazine, if we’re to assume those are from the Wii look very impressive at this point. If anything Capcom has shown they can make an impressive port (Resident Evil 4).

What are your thoughts on Dead Rising making an undead walk to the Wii? Is this going to be some bumbling rehash of a port, or can they pull off it off like RE4?

Can you smell it in the air? That’s the smell of some Grade A Nintendo Wii news that’s getting ready to be dropped on us in just a couple of hours. This post will act as the catalyst for relaying live and up-to-date news that will be coming from Nintendo’s E3 conference. I’m going to kind of treat this like a Twitter posting. I will have a live stream of the conference going, and whenever news is given I will be posting on here (so be sure to keep the page refreshed).

I’m hoping that everyone will be able to watch the event for themselves, and we can get a discussion started on the events of the conference on here. Also, if you aren’t able to view the conference you can find solace here as I will be posting at the speed of light. I hope that everyone enjoys Nintendo’s E3 conference, and see you back here soon.

(7:06 PDT) - All is quiet at WiiBlog.net…too quiet. I think I’m going to hit a time warp and these next couple of hours will feel like days.

(8:13 PDT) - We are now within the hour before Nintendo’s Conference. I’m sweating in anticipation, but I think that’s mainly because the office’s air conditioner isn’t kicking on. I just wanted to go ahead and apologize for any grammatical errors that are probably going to occur as I’m updating this. I’ll be typing as fast as possible, so there might be some misspelled words, or maybe even unintelligible sentences (mostly if Punch Out gets announced, as I’ll just be banging keys in excitement).

(8:58 PDT) - The stream is up, everything looks to be working ok….nothing but a Nintendo logo as of now

(9:00 PDT) - Ok, stage is showing..freakin huge monitor in the background…bigger than Microsoft’s

(9:08 PDT) - Ok, now we have a clip of different people playing Nintendo handhelds and consoles….the show has started…they all look so full of life..they promise to keep the world smiling

(9:10 PDT) - Someone besides Reggie Fils-Aime or Miyamoto takes stage…never seen her before in my life, brags about being a mom and her son. Showing off family photos now of her snowboarding, pretty odd way to start an E3 conference

(9:12 PDT) - Shaun White Snowboarding is announced…with Shaun White actually on the wii balance board going down a slope…was kind of hoping for 1080 Snowboarding, but this looks decent enough

Early Picture of Shaun White Snowboarding

(9:15 PDT) - The lady I dont know is trying off Shaun White Snowboarding now….I don’t know who she is, but I dont like her…I want Reggie or Miyamoto…Shaun White Snowboarding will be available by year’s end…Satoru Iwata takes the stage…FINALLY

(9:22 PDT) - Iwata is talking about destroying the barriers between gamers and non-gamers, with games like Guitar Hero, Mario Kart: Wii

(9:22 PDT) - Iwata talks about dangers of standing still in video game world…talks about Nintendo being pioneer in bringing fresh surprises…talks about social games, with people creating works and sharing with others…Katsuya Eguchi video is shown, showing footage of some Animal Crossing

(9:26 PDT) Animal Crossing: City Folk is announced, to come out in 2008. Looks alot like previous Animal Crossings. Wants to create thriving world, where people can interact…Will have a feature where you can visits other people’s cities. Communication will be key, you can write letters to others through the Wii message board…WHOAAA Wii Speak is announced, a community microphone that can pick up sound in an entire room.

Early Photo Of Wii Speak

(9:29 PDT) - The Wii speak looks as though it will sit on your sensor bar. Although Animal Crossing: City Folk was a big announcement, the Wii Speak looks more interesting.

(9:30 PDT) - Reggie Fils-Aime takes the stage…now the show is starting…bragging about Wii hardware sales…I guess with the Wii Speak being announced, they’d figured we would need a break before something else gets announced.

(9:30 PDT) - Reggie says that Nintendo will limit the previews to three third party games for the conference. Star Wars Clone Wars trailer ensues..Shows off different gameplay movies. Will be out Holiday 2008

(9:40 PDT) - Rayman Raving Rabbids is being shown. Shows some kids playing it, with a girl sitting on the wii balance board.

Girl Utilizing Balance Board For Rayman Raving Rabbids

A short Call Of Duty: World At War trailer is shown…not a whole lot is shown for it.

(9:42 PDT) - Showing demoart between male and female gamers on the Nintendo DS…the numbers show that the ration is almost half for the Nintendo DS….will be back when Wii news shows up, or if my call on the Nintendo DS 2 is announced.

(9:46 PDT) - New Pokemon Ranger game is announced for any of you Nintendo DS owners. WHOOOAAA….Grand Theft Auto game is announced for the DS…Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

(9:49 PDT) - Reggie takes stage again..features Wii MotionPlus on screen..says that the MotionPlus will change wii remote, making it more responsive, and picks up even the slightest shifts that weren’t before…Wii Sports Resort is announced to come with MotionPlus, “going to be a day at the beach”…shows how the MotionPlus picks up every slight movement, the gameplay looks pretty responsive…their playing some game called Disc Dog….although it looks too cute for comfort, the MotionPlus is impressive

(9:53 PDT) - Reggie shows off another game for Wii Sports Plus…a jet ski game…looks to have fluid steering

Reggie doing Jet Skiing

(9:55 PDT) - Some new guy shows up to show off sword fighting game. You will use the remote to to perform sword duels with the MotionPlus…the new woman and Reggie are dueling. The reponsiveness is amazing, and the sword duels look really fast.

Sword Dueling With The Wii MotionPlus

(9:57 PDT) - Reggie is talking about other developers and how they’ll utilize the Wii MotionPlus. Wii Sports Resort releases next spring. New holiday release game is coming up…..*drum roll*…stage darkens…there’s a smoke cloud….I can’t believe this, if this is Drum Hero I’m going to pitch a fit…I swear I was talking to my friend before about this game needs to exist…There’s some punk rocker looking guy playing the game, looks amazing

(10:00 PDT) - Shigeru Miyamoto takes stage…showing off Wii Music…looks like he’s using the remote to play a saxophone on the screen…the punk rocker guy is playing drums on Wii Music…OMG….this looks freaking awesome…dare I say…move over Rock Band

(10:00 PDT) - Miyamoto is talking about Wii Music. Has been in development aslong as Wii Sports. Wii Music will allow people, who don’t know music to enjoy it. Miyamoto takes wii remote and nunchuk…you will have to use different motions for different instruments to play them. Song being used is from a F-Zero game. Wii Music will feature over 50 instruments…Miyamoto plays the piano, looks awesome….The Violin looks just as good..

Miyamoto Playing The Violin

(10:05 PDT) - Miyamoto says that the drum portion of the game will utilize the balance board. Miyamoto is showing off the conductor part of the game that he showed off at last year’s show. Game will record your performances, can create music videos, to share with others. Four users take the stage to show off the multiplayer portion of Wii Music…some tool makes a cowbell joke from SNL…these people look goofy, but it looks fun…Each is playing a different instrument that’s playing along to the original Super Mario Bros. Theme song, these people are awful…hopefully it sounds bad cause they’re not very good

(10:09 PDT) - Group exists the stage finally…the game looks fun, but they were just awful…Reggie takes the stage again…I feel a big announcement coming on…they’re recapping the conference, Wii Speak is going to be awesome, I can tell

(10:09 PDT) - These people are all about smiles…WHATTTT, no be announcement at the end….is this the end?… the conference is over

First impressions after watching the conference is that it was pretty underwhelming. To me the biggest announcement was the Wii Speak, which will be up people talking in an entire room. Wii Music also definitely impressed, but there wasn’t anything really awe inspiring from a new IP…here’s hoping that they’ll have good demonstrations on the conference floor.

Here I was sitting at my desk, thinking that the only news from Nintendo would be at their conference tomorrow. Apparently, I was mistaken as a new wii remote accessory was unveiled earlier today (maybe sticking it to Microsoft before their conference starts). The accessory is called the Wii MotionPlus, which will give the wii remote better responsiveness for motion controls.

(Source: Nintendo)

Here’s the official press release from Nintendo:

NINTENDO INTRODUCES THE WII MOTIONPLUS
July 14, 2008
Nintendo’s upcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory for the revolutionary Wii Remote controller again redefines game control, by more quickly and accurately reflecting motions in a 3-D space. The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion. Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play. The Wii MotionPlus accessory reconfirms Nintendo’s commitment to making games intuitive and accessible for everyone. Nintendo will reveal more details about the Wii MotionPlus accessory and other topics Tuesday morning at its E3 media briefing.

Hopefully we’ll be getting more details from Nintendo tomorrow at the conference, so I can put my two cents in.

(via: News.com)

Ahhhhh no he didn’t, well actually he did; Howard Stringer a higher-up for Sony showed no respect for the Nintendo Wii. At a media conference last week, he was asked about his thoughts on the juggernaut system, and he had this to say, “I’ve played a Nintendo Wii. I don’t see it as a competitor…It’s more of an expensive niche game device. We’re selling a lot of PlayStation 3s now and it’s still the best way to buy a Blu-ray player”

I don’t claim to be a living dictionary, but when I hear the term ‘niche’ it’s generally associated with something that has a small following. So I’m perplexed by his choice of words considering the Nintendo Wii is the top-selling console at the moment. If you wanted to get technical, the PS3 is the actual niche system since it has sold the least up to this point. It should be noted that my ill feelings are all generated towards Stringer, not the PS3 itself. I myself have a PS3 and enjoy it, especially for blu-ray movies. But to just come out and blatantly disrespect the competition (especially comp that’s whooping your blu-ray butt), is just poor public relations.

The last time I checked the Nintendo Wii and PS3 are both video game consoles, so no matter what the technology they are still competitors. While they might be going down different paths to try and be successful, they’re still relying on the same general market for success. Next time Stringer is asked about competition that is doing well, maybe he could just show some respect and leave it at that. Instead, sites are posting his disrespectful comments all over the place, and giving Sony a bad name.

(Once E3 kicks off, I promise to have some better articles.)

If there’s one thing that could make me giggle in excitement for, it’s another Punch-Out game. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve logged more time into Super Punch-Out than any other game in existence. There would be down times during college, that I would literally play 4-5 hours on end. Though there’s no official record for it, my best time against Piston Hurricane is 11 seconds. So, anyway enough about my Super Punch-Out laurels, onto the rumor mill….It’s being rumored that a Wii Punch Out game will be making an appearance at E3.

Piston Hurricane Has Become My Punching Bag Over The Years

So, after I caught wind of the rumor I immediately began giggling like a school girl. Everyone in the office might have and still be staring at me, but at this point I really don’t care. It’s being rumored that NGamer (European Nintendo Magazine), has leaked that Punch-Out will be making an appearance at E3. The magazine has offered information that the balance board will be utilized for the bobbing and weaving, while the mechanics will be similar to Wii boxing, or Rhythm boxing on Wii Fit. My excite-o-meter just went up two notches for E3, even more than it was before.

To clarify, this is all rumor and speculation at this point. When I go to bed tonight I’ll probably start preparing myself for the worst (Punch-Out not being at E3), but for now I’m on cloud nine.

To continue with the theme of ‘E3′ I figured we’d take a look back at some of the historical announcements from Nintendo. The conference has been around since 1995, so there’s been plenty of huge news bombs to come from the conference in past years. Here’s a Top 5 list of what those announcements were.

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