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There’s been a pretty big fad in video games as of late. Creating and customization has become a major factor in video games, and the Nintendo Wii is no exception. With Blast Works, where nearly every facet of the game is customizable to Boom Blox where you could create entire customized levels. Monster Lab is the next Nintendo Wii game to feature customizing and creating as a major aspect of the game.

Here is a press release I received this morning about the game:

Eidos and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment are proud to announce the launch of www.monsterlabthegame.com, the official website of the Monster Lab videogame, an RPG/action hybrid game for the whole family, set in an eerie, supernatural world where the evil Baron Mharti rules the region with a cruel hand. The site offers an inside look at Monster Lab’s gameplay features, screenshots and will be home to the anticipated official game trailer debut. The nuts and bolts of the laboratory have been unlocked for your initial research and exploration, with more updates to come.

Monster Lab creeps onto store shelves on Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ this Fall.

I’ve been keeping a watchful eye on Monster Lab before E3, and I’m cautiously optimistic about the title. When a video game tantalizes me with thoughts of tapping into the creative side of my mind, it’s always a big selling point. The game looks intriguing, but I’m a little put off by the turn based combat shown off at E3. Turn based combat is good when you have multiple units to control, and is based off strategy. Monster Lab from what they showed at E3 looks more like a fighter. The game is shaping up really well in the art department, sporting some smooth textures and wonderful use of color. All in all I’m still on the fence with Monster Lab (if it wasn’t for the freakin’ turn based combat). I will say that the Monster Lab website is pretty impressive though and is worth a visit

Coming out of E3, one of the games I’m most excited about isn’t being released on a disc. Call me a sucker for nostalgia, but I’m as giddy as a school girl waiting on the release of Mega Man 9. In case you haven’t heard anything about it, Mega Man 9 is a brand new (old?) adventure for the blue bomber. The game will be available on Nintendo’s WiiWare service which uses the old school NES style of Mega Man (old school; meaning better than any of Mega Man’s recent games).

Luckily You Wont Have To Blow Into Any Part Of The Nintendo Wii For Mega Man 9 To Work….OR WILL YOU?
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Mondays, they tend to be very slow for video game news. In light of ‘light’ news for the Nintendo Wii, I figured I would do some editorializing (if that’s a word). I’ve been perusing around forums lately, and there’s been a lot of chatter about how the Nintendo Wii isn’t for the hardcore gamer. There have been comments along the lines of:

“When will the Nintendo Wii have games for hardcore players like me”

“Where’s all the blood/gore, and cursing…..I want some mature content”

To all of these people, I just want to say “Maybe you’re not really all that hardcore”. I’ve just about reached the boiling point behind this hardcore vs. casual dynamic that video game sites and fanboys have started this past couple of years. I’m not sure when this made up trend started, but I’m pretty sure I was either asleep or enjoying too many video games to tell. The Nintendo Wii just like any other system has a wide variety of games that reach all kinds of different gamers, maybe even more variety than the other two consoles. But this variety isn’t just limited to two distinct markets (there’s more than just hardcore & casual).
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It’s been awhile since there has been a Top 5 list at WiiBlog. Maybe I forgot about it, or was too lazy to do it but today I remembered it and feel inspired. Yesterday I put up a YouTube video of alive.net’s cool tech demo utilizing the Wii Remote MotionPlus technology. It got me thinking about some ideas that could easily be utilized with Nintendo’s new Wii technology. These kind of lists have to be my favorite, because there’s nothing like making up games and ideas that’ll probably never exist.

So here you have it….

5. Luigi’s Mansion 2 (with ghost trapping feature) - Luigi’s Mansion was easily one of the most underrated titles in Nintendo’s history. When the Gamecube was released, gamers were begging and crying for a Mario game. Nintendo kind of obliged in a way, when Luigi’s Mansion was released. The game was praised by critics for introducing fresh and innovative ideas. Some gamers felt left out though, as it wasn’t a traditional Mario platformer they’d been dreaming about since Mario 64.
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Ever since E3 the big talk about Nintendo has mostly been centered around the Wii Remote MotionPlus. What the MotionPlus promises to do, is what we’ve been wanting from the Nintendo Wii all along. We have to wait until Spring 09 for the MotionPlus.. :(… But luckily alive.net has released a YouTube video showing off the capabilities of the Nintendo Wii Remote MotionPlus (Skip to 1:50 for the lightsaber awesomeness).

Tetris, easily is the most popular puzzle game ever released. Fans of Tetris have been eagerly awaiting details of its debut on the Nintendo Wii. A press release has just been dropped that provides such details, while still leaving a lot of questions about Tetris Party. The biggest announcement is that Tetris Party will be releasing this fall on WiiWare, which is sooner than some were anticipating.

Here is a list of some other details of the press release:

-Tetris Party will have 18 different modes in all

- Tetris Party will utilize the point-and-shoot features of the Nintendo Wii remote

So although we have been given some tidbits of information about Tetris Party, Nintendo is keeping key details on some of the big announcements secret. HudsonSoft is developing Tetris Party though, so my hopes are high thus far.

Nintendo is pretty much in a class of its own sales wise. Nintendo has just posted their Q1 2009 financial results, and they definitely don’t disappoint. What’s really funny about Nintendo’s results is that the Nintendo Wii has actually sold more in Q1 of this year compared to last. That’s saying something for Nintendo, who can probably rack up this surge due to increased production.

I Like To Think That Miyamoto, Iwata, and Fils-Aime All Have Their Personal Pool Of Coins To Swim Through
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The Conduit pretty much stole the show at E3 this year for the Nintendo Wii. Sure, there was Animal Crossing, and the announcement of Wii Remote MotionPlus, but High Voltage did nearly everything right showing off The Conduit. I did a checklist yesterday for what I want to see for Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows, now let’s do a checklist for everything The Conduit did right at E3 this year.

Announced online multiplayer, with 16 players - Check

Showed off impressive gameplay videos with fluid animations - Check

Announced functionality with WiiSpeak so I can talk smack to 13 year olds when I kill them - BIG CHECK
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Comic-Con has grown by leaps and bounds since its inauguration back in the early 80’s. The Comic-Con event is pretty much the go-to place for anything comic book related, even movies and video games. Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows was shown off this past weekend at Comic-Con and doesn’t look to disappoint . The trailer is shown off on the Xbox 360 , so here’s hoping that Treyarch/Shaba Games will be taking good care of the Nintendo Wii version **cough** Spiderman 3 **cough**…

Symbiote Wolverine - Check

Independent of any kind of movie tie-in - BIG CHECK

Responsive Wii remote motion contols - praying

Click down below to view movie

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When I saw the first trailer for Helix, a Nintendo WiiWare rhythm game it piqued my interest. I’ve been wanting an Elite Beat Agents Wii game for quite awhile. I’m desperate enough for a Nintendo Wii title like EBA that I thought We Cheer looked promising. After taking a look at Helix, and their use of independent music my wii remote is starting to sway in their direction. In this gameplay video, we hear from CEO Ed Roman of Ghostfire Games. It always pleases me when a company really talks about their Nintendo Wii games and what they bring to the table.

Helix looks to pack quite a bit of content for a WiiWare title. They promise to have over 26 songs, with 30 different motions available spanning 3 difficulties.

Take a look at the video and let me know what you think.

Anascape, a texas based company, sued Nintendo for violating a patent of Anascape’s controllers. Nintendo lost the lawsuit. Instead of paying the Million bond, Nintendo has decided to take all the controllers off the shelves.

This isn’t the first time Nintendo has been sued, but none have ended like this. As of July 23rd, no more Gamecube or Wii Classic controllers will be sold in the US…. bummer.

How will we play oldschool wii shop titles now?

[news via wiiusers.net]

Wii Music was one of the question mark titles coming out of E3. In this writer’s humble opinion the jury is still out on whether this would be worthy of a purchase or not. The demo that was presented at E3 was a pretty mix bag in terms of a gameplay demonstration. When the drums were shown off at the beginning of the E3 demo, I was salivating in anticipation. I had brought it up before how awesome it would be if a Drum Hero game were released on the the Wii. Then after the drums were shown off, Nintendo execs took the stage and nearly ruined the whole experience.

Miyamoto Makes It Looks So Fun

Without a competitive mode, or much of a challenge what-so-ever many gamers have been left with questions. The idea of having 50 instruments in a game is pretty cool though, considering they will all have their separate motions.

For people who are already sold on the game should know that a release date has been given, atleast for Japan. October 16th will be Wii Music day for the land to the east. So all of you import fanatics get ready. No date has been given for a stateside release, although my power of deduction says sometime in middle November.

What were your opinions on Wii music? With the description that was given to us at E3 does this look like a title you’ll be picking up or will it just be blowing smoke?

A month or so ago, Laurent Fischer of Nintendo Europe joked that only ‘geeks and otaku’ cared about extra storage for the Nintendo Wii. Since that statement, Fisher has apologized and explained that he was only joking. The problem was that even though it was a joke, it still left us with the feeling that maybe Nintendo wasn’t taking the problem so seriously. Luckily Reggie Fils-Aime has come to the rescue.

In a recent interview with MTV Multiplayer, Reg talks about the issue of expanding the storage capacity of the the Nintendo Wii, “We have said publicly that we’re looking hard at the storage situation, that we’re working on a range of solutions… But certainly it’s an issue we are aware of and we’re working to find a solution and we will”

An announcement, or some specifics would have been nice to hear. Of course Nintendo has always had a knack for keeping things secret until they are positive it’s ready to be released. But with Iwata clarifying that the Mario and Zelda teams are hard at work, and Reggie assuring gamers that Nintendo is fixing the storage problem things are looking bright. For now.

If you kept up with extensive E3 coverage, then you’ve probably heard of Captain Rainbow. This was definitely one of the ‘head scratchers’ to rear its’ head at the show this year. The game follows the TV show superhero Captain Rainbow as he is on a quest to improve his ratings. He heads off to Mimin Island to boost his ratings. When he gets there he finds a place where some of the second rate, or washed up Nintendo mascots live. He then has to save the day for all of the lesser known Nintendo mascots.

The game is being developed by Skip Ltd. They were the creative minds behind Chibi-Robo, a very successful cult hit on the Nintendo Gamecube. Captain Rainbow is being published by Nintendo, which is why the underdog Nintendo mascots are making an appearance. So far the appearances of Birdo, and Little Mac have been confirmed. Little Mac looks hilarious, as he’s way past his prime and has put on a few pounds after making his circuit rounds on the NES. Here are a couple of trailers to tide you over until more information is released.

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This probably will go down as the latest post I’ve made on WiiBlog thus far. I ran across this nifty little trailer as I was perusing the web. It shows off a rhythm game, that looks a lot like We Cheer, which looked a lot like Elite Beat Agents. Anything that looks to have the same addictive gameplay that EBA had definitely has my attention. Here’s the trailer, and let me know what you think about it.