The Wiire

Your Wii Remote Is Calling

Andrew Clark — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:23:00 +0000

Konami announces a new horror game for the Wii

Over the years, there have been a lot of horror stories/urban legends originating from Japan. Mostly released in movie form, stories like The Ring, One Missed Call, or The Grudge were originally Japanese films that were remade as American ones. Seeking to follow along with that trend, Konami has announced a new game for the Wii entitled Calling.

The game centers around a mysterious Japanese website that spirits and ghosts use to entice the living into some type of dead zone straight out of a Verizon Wireless commercial. Legend has it that once the user gains access to the mysterious site's chatroom, they will begin receiving calls from things that go bump in the night, and ultimately wind up dead. In the game, the Wii remote acts as a cell phone, which functions as a gateway to these undead zones. Players will play as someone whose responsibility it is to investigate the claims and find out just what this spooky website stuff is all about.

If you are not sold on the scariness of this title, just imagine playing this game in a dark room around midnight and suddenly a crackly voice comes over your Wii remote's speaker. Who knew poor speaker quality could actually be used for good?

Look for more details on the release of this game as it comes closer to its release date sometime in the Spring of 2010.

Via Destructoid

Image Via GoNintendo (note the heart rate in the above image, wouldn't this be a good usage for the Vitality Sensor?)

Making Sense of the Vitality Sensor

Andrew Clark — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:47:00 +0000

Reggie Fils-Aime loosely discusses the Wii Vitality Sensor

If you were attending or watching E3 live, or read any post-E3 news posts, then you have probably run into the newly-announced Vitality Sensor. With its announcement came very little detail as to what it would be used for. There were assumptions made that it would in some way relate to fitness games, with no confirmations from Nintendo on this. So hopefully Reggie Fils-Aime would shed some light when he had a chat with Fast Company about the new peripheral.

Mr. Fils-Aime ended up having little to say about the usage of the Sensor, and the gist of his talk was essentially that the Vitality Sensor is unexplainable. When asked about the peripheral, Fils-Aime responded by saying, "All I can tell you is, with the game developers that we have, we will bring forth an experience that you will say, 'Wow, I get it'. Until you have that software, it's tough to understand."

Using the Balance Board as evidence, Reggie Fils-Aime attempted to make the connection that people were skeptical of the Balance Board as well, and that eventually, it has turned into "arguably the third largest development platform across the globe."

He also went on to explain the thinking behind coming out with this new peripheral. Apparently reaching out for what he calls the "new core," Nintendo's goal is to attract even more of the casual crowd who have yet to get in on the Wii craze. "There are a 150 million consumers in the markets that we do business, that say they'd be interested in videogames if they had the right content, but today don't play." Fils-Aime concluded by saying that the Vitality Sensor is that right content to make them want to play.

Will the Vitality Sensor become a hit when it finally comes into use? What do you think Nintendo will use it for?

Via Eurogamer

The Conduit

Mike Suszek — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:18:00 +0000

High Voltage has stuck their necks out with The Conduit, a game that promises a true core first-person shooting experience on the Wii.

The Conduit has a much-talked about development history.  Whether you are hyped from seeing the unending amount of trailers and screenshots, or skeptical of the success of a more mature third party product on the Wii, talking about The Conduit never seems to get old.  Regardless, the end product is a real game, something you can really play and experience.  Does it hold up to all the talk?

To start, The Conduit has a made-for-TV approach to its story.  The sci-fi plot is riddled with enough story archetypes and deceit to make a conspiracy theorist's heart flutter.  To some, there's no award-winning writing here, but that surely isn't the intent (nor should it be by most video game standards).  Really, The Conduit does a great job in motivating players to continue moving through the single player campaign, and uses in-game devices and interactions to push the plot along.

You are agent Michael Ford, part of a secret government operation seeking to eradicate an alien threat.  Or a government threat.  Or both.  The story has plenty of twists and turns that it wouldn't be right to spoil everything here, but the expression "everything isn't what it seems" certainly applies.  Similar to Metroid Prime's visor scanning, giving players a glimpse of the history and backdrop that makes its story, The Conduit employs a device that adds layers of environmental conspiracy to the plot: the All-Seeing Eye.

Eliminate invisible threats using the advanced All-Seeing Eye.

The All-Seeing Eye (or ASE) is a mechanical ball that Ford "holds" (it really hovers over his open hand) and explores the game's areas with. The ASE will sometimes detect invisible mines, hidden messages scrawled on walls, small puzzles that open up doors to goodies and hidden weapons, and more. Possibilities appear endless with what the ASE can do, which makes Ford a target as long as he retains possession of it. It shines a light on different textured surfaces (helping show off the power of the Quantum3 engine that runs the game) and shoots a "beam" to unlock these hidden elements, using the Wii Remote's pointer and replacing your gun with the click of a button, the plus button.

Actually, the plus button by default. The controls have an incredible amount of customization, truly making a landmark in first-person shooting. Players can easily spend a cool hour toying with control settings to find everything that works for them in the game. While the default controls work well, some may find reason to complain about things like sensitivity settings. No complaints needed, of course, when every bit of it can be adjusted.

Now is a good time to shoot.

For instance, the bounding box (an invisible square/rectangle that defines whether your character is looking around or actually turning his body) can be completely tuned on the x and y axis.  So players that prefer free reticle movement to scan the environment can make the box larger, and those that would rather use most of the pointing surface to turn their character can make it smaller.  This customization is nearly pixel perfect, and provides an entirely new control scheme with each tweak.  But it doesn't end there.  Players can re-map every button and the two Nunchuk and Remote gestures to whatever in-game action they want.  Would you rather jump with C, crouch with B, and shoot using A?  You can do that.

A majority of the more important facets of control customization come in sensitivity settings.  Players can use preset "heads" that change the limits their character has on how they look around based on creatures in the game.  Otherwise, your Remote's pointer can be adjusted to decide how far to each side, and above and below, that your player can look.  How fast Ford will run and strafe can be adjusted, or even whether you prefer to leave actual character turning to the joystick on the Nunchuk.  The options are not only endless, but they are unprecedented in first-person shooters.  These controls are the best I've seen in any shooter, period.

The HUD of the game is entirely customizable too.  Aside from changing the transparency settings of your health bar, ammo supply, radar, and all that jazz, you can click and drag each of the windows around the screen to your liking.  Would you prefer every window to clutter up the center of the screen?  Feel free to do so (and I'd love to take you on in a match like that).  Add to that, all of the control and HUD customizing can be done at any time from your in-game pause screen.  So if you're finding issues with how the game operates, you can modify your experience in real-time.

Familiar locations like the White House are home to an alien invasion.

Having controls that work is one thing, but what about things to shoot at? The fairly linear levels aren't entirely interactive, but they are littered with kill rooms that aren't new to first-person shooters. Drudge creatures and shady, possessed armed forces infest practically every corner you turn, trying to pump bullets and laser beams into you. These linear levels almost feel archaic in nature, with winding "load-time" corridors dividing stages out by checkpoints. With this in mind, I'd have to agree with valid comparisons to older shooters like Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark from the Nintendo 64 days. Albeit feeling a bit enclosed on the player, The Conduit boasts a decent variety in levels, with many familiar and monumental Washington DC locations being devastated by an alien invasion.

The Conduit's main draw on the Wii is the capability for 12-person online multiplayer matches. Players can enter matchmaking with strangers in "Team Objective" and "Team Reaper" modes, or duke it out in "Free For All." Team-based matches had varying rule sets that used the ASE to spice things up, with "capture the ASE" and Single ASE style games being popular choices. ASE Football "keep away" game is fun in Free-For-All, but match variation begins to feel like Smash Bros. Brawl afterwards, as different modes will make use of limited lives for each individual or each team, or an objective of meeting a quota of kills/ASE captures, and mixtures in between. Even so, the online multiplayer part of The Conduit has 13 modes, carrying seven different maps and 18 weapons. Players vote for each of the three categories, being modes, maps, and weapon sets, in the lobby between bouts.

Online multiplayer keeps players coming back for more (punishment).

The Conduit plays well online, with a few drawbacks. The maps are (mostly) wide enough to make the maximum 12 player matches feel roomy. Glitches like picking up newly spawned weapons with empty chambers and spawning outside the map or in a wall (forcing the player to either wait until the match ends or reset the console) are frequent enough to be a concern. Of course, for a free online system, High Voltage makes enough use of it to keep gamers coming back for more multiplayer mayhem.

Sharp shooting. The weapon selection, divided out by Human, Trust, and Drudge classes are diverse and provide advantages and unique draws for each one.

Best shooter controls. The amount of customizable elements in terms of controls is incredible, and sets the precedent for future titles.

Achievement unlocked. A wide range of hidden gems, unlockable achievements, and difficulty settings offers core gamers a good challenge.

Online multiplayer. The Conduit delivers a variety of multiplayer modes with a competent online system to boot, friend codes aside.

Conspiracies. From the cover of the game to the ending sequence, players are given an "upfront" and fun science fiction experience, all clichés aside.

Looks hot. This may be one of the best looking games on Wii, with true widescreen support and progressive scan modes being only the beginning. Texture and bump mapping, as well as lighting and water effects narrow the margin between The Conduit and early games on other next-gen systems to the level of indistinguishable.

Corridor crisis. Levels can feel narrow and linear, with winding corridors serving as both an opportunity for the game to load upcoming areas, and as a game-staggering device.

Son of a glitch. The online mode is home to a concerning amount of reasons to reset your Wii.

Lack of local multiplayer. While it may not be as fun (or as feasible), even two player dual-wielding would be welcome to the title.

While the qualifier may seem cringe-inducing, The Conduit is excellent as a Wii title. It would be doing the massively customizable control scheme a disservice to say it would never stand out on another console. However, the actual plot and play progression isn't anything to write home about. The Conduit isn't about what we expect from a Wii shooter, it's about what we can really get from a Wii shooter. To some, it's even about whether a great Wii shooter is possible by today's standards. With this game, High Voltage certainly proves that yes, it is possible.

Mature Wii Games Need A Little Something Special

Andrew Clark — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:47:00 +0000

Resident Evil Producer says you need "An X-Factor"

Mature games have not had it easy on the Wii. Games like MadWorld and No More Heroes, which are critically acclaimed, have struggled in sales. This leads some people to make the claim that Mature games can't be made on the Wii, because when it comes down to pure sales figures, they have just not been able to come close to the "Wii Plays" and "Wii Fits" on the Wii.

There has been some success, however, and that has come from the Resident Evil franchise. Games like Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles have managed to make quite a place for themselves on the Wii. Masachika Kawata, a producer of the Resident Evil franchise recently came out and discussed why Resident Evil is a different story when it comes to sales, and gave some insight into how to reproduce the success.

Masachika Kawata attributed Resident Evil's success on it being a household franchise, which helped hasten its acceptance on the Wii. With Resident Evil 4 already being hailed as one of the greatest games of all time, it was only natural that the Wii iteration would sell well. He also talked about other reasons why the games sold, discussing the idea of having to be fully dedicated to your game: "We were serious about creating and developing this particular game, and therefore the fan will accept and recognize our effort."

This isn't to say that he doesn't think that there are other good mature games out there, like the aforementioned titles, but instead he seems to be saying that they just weren't popular enough. "We were lucky that we’ve got the Resident Evil brand, which is well-known all around the world."

Do you agree that games like MadWorld and No More Heroes would have sold better, had they had a more aggressive advertising campaign to spread the word further? Or perhaps sequels of such games will sell better because they are of a known quantity?

Via Destructoid

The Wiire Podcast 142

Andrew Eder — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:17:00 +0000

Yes, people are cheating online in The Conduit already

Ian, Mike and Andrew put down their Wii Remotes for this week's podcast, and talk about online cheating (gasp!) in The Conduit, EA Sports Active, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (again), a crazy story about a mother selling a stolen Wii, and an even crazier story about Nintendo buying an entire TV show. Plus, Miyamoto says the next Zelda game won't be "that radically different", No More Heroes jumps platforms, and SEGA makes a commitment to mature titles on Wii. Listen to this episode today!

Topics covered in this week's episode:

(02:57) Currently Playing
(12:58) Online Cheating in The Conduit
(21:12) EA Sports Active Review
(22:17) Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Review
(27:09) Mom Sells Stolen Wii
(29:04) New Zelda Game Won't Be "That Radically Different"
(34:56) No More Wii for No More Heroes
(37:12) SEGA To Continue Supporting Mature Wii Games
(39:35) Koopalings confirmed for New Super Mario Bros. Wii
(40:50) Poll Study
(44:09) Nintendo Buys a UK TV Show
(47:14) Listener E-Mails

Runtime: 1:02:02

Download this episode to your computer
Play this episode now here in your browser
Subscribe via RSS to receive all episodes

Poll Study: Wii MotionPlus Sales

Andrew Eder — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:46:00 +0000

Majority plan to get one soon or are waiting for more game support

The Wiire recently polled its readers on the following question:

Have you bought Wii MotionPlus?

At first glance, it appears that many people haven't run out to pick themselves up a Wii MotionPlus yet, but plan to get one soon (37.9%) or are waiting for more games to support it (31.8%).

For those that do own the device, 17.6% got it as a pack in with either Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 or Grand Slam Tennis, while 6.1% absorbed the higher cost and bought it separately. Finally, 6.5% simply aren't interested in the add-on.

How about you? Did you run out and buy it, or will you wait until later?

Zelda's Re-Awakening

Chris Holzworth — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:15:00 +0000

In his biweekly column, "Down. Right. Fierce.," Chris Holzworth explores gaming topics from alternative approaches. Here, he delves into the direction the Zelda series needs to take for it to survive.

Zelda's Re-Awakening

A new Zelda is coming. It's official. Now seems as good a time as any to discuss what direction Shigeru Miyamoto needs to take the franchise in. I emphasize needs since Miyamoto recently told Nintendo Power that the next Zelda wouldn't be "radically different."

This is a problem. Change is a necessary component of growth. Unfortunately, change is one thing Nintendo's not very good at. Sure, they changed how we play games with Wii, but we're still playing the same games. It's been over 10 years since Mario and Link made the jump from 2-D to 3-D, yet whenever I play their Wii counterparts I feel like I'm back in 1998. All that's missing is Fred Durst's inability to rap choking the radio airwaves.

Zelda needs to change.

In literature, every story has conflict, and conflict comes in many forms: Human versus Self, Human versus Society, and so on. So what is Zelda's conflict? Human versus Nature. This is the core of the Zelda experience. Ganon, the Triforce, even Princess Zelda are all MacGuffins. They are plot devices that drive Link's quest. The Legend of Zelda is the story of a boy lost in the woods, of Link's journey through the myriad of environments that exist within the Kingdom of Hyrule.

Now we have a starting point - to make the "Link versus Hyrule" experience more dynamic. One aspect of this is easily accomplished: expand Link's physical abilities. The little Hylian is an athletic boy, an acrobat like Prince of Persia's protagonist or Assassin Creed's Altaïr. Yet, Link's athletic prowess seems amateur in comparison. These guys can scramble up walls, shimmy across ledges, climb up curtains, swing across rafters, run along walls, and jump on their own. Why can't Link interact with the world around him in the same fashion? The world of Hyrule should be a network of puzzles, like in Prince of Persia, and Link should have the necessary tools to solve those puzzles.

Furthermore, by powering up Zelda's biggest design trope - items, such as the hookshot, bow and arrows, bombs, boomerang, and magic wands - Nintendo could take Link's interaction with the world around him to the next level. What if Link could take a rope, tie it to an arrow, fire that arrow at a cliff ledge, and then climb said cliff ledge? The demarcation of where and what items can be used is passé. Come join the 21st century, Nintendo. Modern players want to cultivate a variety of means to overcome obstacles.

This idea should carry over to combat, as well. Take the Ice Rod. What if, in the next Zelda, the Ice Rod controlled similar to the Bow, and required precision targeting? Imagine being able freeze the legs of advancing enemies, immobilizing them, or freezing their sword arm, then disarming them with one quick-swap to the boomerang. These shades of nuance would add tremendous depth to the Zelda experience.

There is a second aspect to making the "Link versus Hyrule" experience more dynamic, and that's scale. Look at Shadow of the Colossus. The Colossi create such an epic sense of scale, one that Shadow of the Colossus nails while Twilight Princess only flirts with, and Shadow of the Colossus is analogous to The Legend of Zelda in many ways. Like Link, Wander sets out to save a damsel in distress, Mono, who, like Zelda, is little more than a plot element that compels Wander's quest. In his quest, Wander braves the Forbidden Land, a vast peninsula that rivals Hyrule in exoticism.

The Legend of Zelda should tear a page out of this book. Imagine scaling a hillside in the next Zelda, a hillside littered with towering trees and large rocky protrusions. This hillside continues to rise until it becomes mountainside. When you reach the precipice of this mountain, the ground shudders once, and then quakes violently. Suddenly the horizon shifts, and the sky whips into a blur of motion. This is no mountainside; it's some massive creature that was embedded in the earth.

Now to bring some of the hypothetical elements discussed earlier into play. The player, as Link, struggles to ascend the back of this behemoth. When they finally reach its head, players use the hookshot to anchor on, then take a running leap off the creature's brow, swing to eye level, and hack away at the massive orb until it's reduced to goo. Enraged, the behemoth thrashes about wildly, forcing players to retreat to safety on the creature's back until it calms.

I really hope I'm not alone in thinking the concepts described above paint an ideal picture of what Zelda could be (but probably never will). Of course, that's our own damn faults, now isn't it? We placate Nintendo by swallowing what they feed us without question, and then champion their games. I wonder: How can something that's never really changed be any better or worse than the last version that came out? Oh wait, it can't. Step it up, Nintendo.

Chris Holzworth is the creator of new game + and a contributor for Geekadelphia. He also writes for Philly2Philly and reports news at Kombo. Feel free to passively stalk him via Twitter.

Guitar Hero Baffles John Mayer

Mike Suszek — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:35:00 +0000

Late night tweets indicate a confused virtuoso

John Mayer, well known guitarist/singer, has a strong Twitter following. He is one of the types to upload pictures and be quite a bit more genuine than other celebrities that have publicists tweeting for them.

With that in mind, Mayer spilled about his experiences with Guitar Hero World Tour late Saturday night, even though he refers to it as Rock Band:

"Just figured out Rock Band. The right hand has to stay down the entire length of the note. Dumb. But I'm rocking now. @tonyheld is toast."

It doesn't end there. In fact, he adds a few more lines and a picture:

"Something's just not the same. Luke sex with a Real Doll. http://twitpic.com/9dfk8"

..."I clearly went to edit "Luke" to "Like" and hit send. This is rough."

The picture (above), tells a bit about his experience, which we'll kindly break down. First, John is holding the strum bar down during (we can assume) notes that are supposed to be held out.

Next, we'll note that he's clearly using one of the first Guitar Hero Wii guitars, and the screen shows the newest iteration, indicating that he's playing World Tour. So it isn't Rock Band, but that's nitpicking, since both are so similar.

Lastly, John Mayer has a Wii. What games should we massively tweet at him to play?

I get the feeling that if we give him a couple weeks he could probably play better than anyone else. He's got the fingers for it, doesn't he?

Update: It didn't occur to me right away, but a little over a year ago, John Mayer was speaking out against Guitar Hero. Has he just been playing it wrong this whole time, or has he come around to find music games entertaining?

Update #2: For what it's worth, Richard in the comments says that's Guitar Hero: Smash Hits in the background, not World Tour. Is he right?

An HD Wii Could Take Over Even More of the Market

Andrew Clark — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:48:00 +0000

Could it take the PS3 down in the process?

Michael Pachter has had a long history of predicting trends in video gaming. He has quite a lot to say about what will happen, and for the most part, remains an educated source to listen to. Most recently, Pachter predicted that in six years time, PS3 will emerge as the second best console (in sales), surpassing the Xbox 360. There is a possibility that the PS3’s comeback could be squashed, however. Who would do the squashing you ask? Look no further than Nintendo

Pachter made the claim that his previously predicted HD Wii (or Wii Plus) could potentially take over the market entirely, and by doing so, could severly cut into PS3 sales. In a report filed by Wedbush Morgan Securities (Pachter’s employer), Pachter said, "In our view, if Nintendo can offer such a device by year-end 2010, it will be in a position to seriously damage Sony’s chances of a comeback this cycle." Pachter remarked that there were two main parts to the Wii Plus’ success, and PS3’s downfall.

Part one involves convincing publishers that it is worth it to spend the large sums of money to develop the shiny beautiful HD games we love. If the Wii gets the publishers to rally behind the new Wii, it could all but kill the PS3's hopes of coming back, and surpassing the Xbox.

Once publishers are creating games for the new system, Nintendo can then initialize part two, which involves getting consumers behind the system. Given the fan base of the Wii, as well as the converts from PS3 and 360, Nintendo could expand their fan base even more than thought possible.

If everything else goes according to Pachter’s plan, he went as far as stating “…it should be in a position to successfully convince consumers that the Wii Plus is the last console they will ever need to purchase."

Considering this is all analysis and predictions, how much truth could be behind this? Will Nintendo release an HD system by the end of 2010, and if so, could this lead to the end of the PS3?

Via Destructoid

New Zelda Game Won't Be "That Radically Different"

Andrew Eder — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:07:00 +0000

Perhaps similar in style to Twilight Princess instead of a radical change

According to an article in the August issue of Nintendo Power, the next Wii Zelda game won't be a dramatic departure from past games.

"I don't think it's going to be that radically different," said Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto in the article.

The Zelda game in question was first teased in June at the E3 2009 expo, which showed artwork of a Twilight Princess-style Link standing alongside a new, unfamiliar character that some speculate is the embodiment of the Master Sword. Very little is currently known about the game, but Miyamoto's statement coupled with the teaser artwork implies that the new title might use the same game engine as Twilight Princess.

An analogous step would be the one between Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, in which the core engine and game style was not all that radically different, but still presented a fresh game in the Zelda universe.

Source: Kotaku