You got PWND at YOGA, n00b!

Like most avid video gamers, I do not go out much and do that thing called exercise or play “real” sports. I prefer to stay inside and “pwn n00bs” in Super Smash Bros or Counter-Strike. So when I heard about the Wii Fit, I got a little bit excited about the fact that I can now have fun playing video games while getting exercise. It’s kind of like slipping vitamins into something tasty and unhealthy.

The current dilemma I face is the question of whether I really want to shell out $90+ for a fancy DDR pad which might make me look like even more of a fool than DDR already does. Wii Fit hits stores on May 21^st and is already on high demand for preorder, and will likely be another hard-to-find title in stores when it finally comes out. Amazon is offering the Wii Fit for $89.99 plus free shipping on their web site, which is a pretty good deal considering that you can save the money usually spent on gas and put it towards another game.

But the big question is whether or not I will actually enjoy Wii Fit. I mean, I’m sure it will be interesting and fun for a little while. But after the first week or two, will I just go back to playing Smash Bros and forget about about my overpriced toy, or will I call the guys up for an intense session of yoga? It is kind of hard to imagine the latter, and even so, I don’t think there would be any of the normal video game antics that go hand in hand with most games. I can just see my friends now yelling “YOU GOT PWND AT YOGA N00B!” at each other as they fail to assume the correct positions. Which brings up the question of multiplayer accessibility altogether, which ignores the underlying and more important question of how gamers will actually use Wii Fit? Will it be a fun multiplayer mess around sort of game (along the lines of DDR or Wario Ware), or will it be a gamer’s dirty little secret (like DOA: Beach Volleyball) that he keeps hidden because he doesn’t want anyone to know he enjoys a little Tai-Chi in the morning.

Skip the FreeLoader - Buy Twilight Princess Instead!

The Twilight Princess hack continues to bring us wonderful homebrew opportunities on an almost daily basis, with one of the most impressive uses so far being released yesterday over at TehSkeen. As bilingual and enthusiastic gamers worldwide have noticed, the Wii implores an annoying little thing that the Nintendo DS and GBA did not - regional lockouts. This archaic convention has long meant that games purchased in Europe or Japan won’t be playable in America, and vice versa. Transnational gamers have been forced to use products like Datel’s FreeLoader to bypass these regional lockouts and legally play copies of official games that haven’t come out in the player’s territory. With yesterday’s announcement of a single file that can be transferred to a SD memory card and loaded via the oft-reported Twilight Princess hack, players with the required materials now have a free solution to get their international game on.

Obviously this his huge news for the homebrew community, as the ability to get more original titles and play archival copies of games via a boot file can’t be too far off. Homebrewers have already successfully dumped the first virtual console game, as well as ported various emulators that will only improve with time. Even Tetris has found its way over to the system via the “soft mod,” making many curious homebrewers excited for the future.

For those a little worried about using their copy of Twilight Princess for ill, take a peek at this simple video walkthrough that tells you where to put files and how to work the necssary SD card. I’m assuming you can pop in the aforementioned “FreeLoader file” instead of the Tetris one in order to play your import games, but I can’t affirm 100% without a copy of Twilight Princess myself to test it out. Maybe sometime next week?

Either way, it’s the beginning of an exciting era for Wii Homebrew. We’ll keep you updated as we find out more here at My Wii News. Now to decide if I’m patient enough to wait another week and a half for Mario Kart Wii to come to the US…

The Worst Wii Games!

Guess who’s back! That’s right - its your old friend Canucklehead with another collection. While every Tom, Dick and Mario can pet together a best list (guilty as charged) - I’ve decided to put together a list of what I see as the absolute worst crap and shovelware currently available for the Wii (thus far). Luckily, there is no shortage - in fact, this list was so easy to put together that I’ve opted to not include downloadable content AND I know I’ve still missed some. So, on top of hiding your wallet when you see the titles below - please let me know what I’ve missed so we can warn the next guy from making the same mistake you did. I’ve decided not to number them as it seems a little — well, cruel, even for me. So, without any further ado, on with the list of craptacularity!

Anubis II: Did I miss the first incarnation of this? More importantly, if so - who thought it would be a good idea to make a second one? This may well be the suckiest suck that ever suckily sucked - and that is saying something! I for one do not want my mummy.

Chicken Shoot: Well, this is hardly surprising. Hey, I’m a Duck Hunt fan myself - and this good sir is no duck hunt. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say this might be popular among the ’short schoolbus’ set. If you shelled out the cash for this rotten egg - well, the yolks on you.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: I put this in CAPS only because the makers of this did the same - I assume because it makes it more ‘X-TREME’. Those who thought the movie sucked will quickly realize it was oscar-worthy compared with this nausea-inspiring ‘game’. Look up shovelware in the dictionary and the same picture that appears below will be shown. Remorseful buyers will quickly be yelling “AAALLLLLVVIIIN!”

JUMPER: See above. Keywords: crap, shovelware, buyer’s remorse. Then subtract Alvin and add what’s-his-face. The umm, Jumper guy — okay, so I never saw the movie or played the game, but I heard things. These things were not good - no, in fact — bad. Very bad things. Next!

GT Pro Series: Rarely does a screen shot say it all - but in this case you can in fact judge a book by that cover. Universally despised for its poor graphics and subpar gameplay, this one makes any critics shortlist. If you’re a fan of racing games - you’d be better served playing Pole Position on your 2600.

Pool Party: Umm, yeah - this one is almost as good as the Wii Play (which also stinks) mini-game version. I’m sorry, you want how much? I’m going to take a pass. This my friends is NO party.

Rapala Tournament Fishing: A truly regretable game - I mean fishing and Wii seems like a natural fit. Clearly, a rush to get this game out can be the the only excuse for this game’s shoddy controls and terrible graphics. Look for this one in bargain bins around the globe, then quiety back away. In a word, Crapala.

Acme Arsenal: You have to know that the Looney Tunes guys likely meant that a lot of parents shelled out cash for this one. (Do kids nowadays even know Bugs?) One would have hoped that this would have been a good game — one would have been sorely disapointed.

Far Cry Vengeance: If any of my selections are going to generate any contoversy and feedback, I suppose by default this is going to be it. Sadly, there was initially some excitement generated by pre-release hype about this game. However, this hype wass quickly and violently quashed when gamers actually got their hands on this crapfest. I’ll admit that this game amazingly does appear to have a handful of fans, but it is worth noting that Fary Cry Vengeance can boast of having one of the worst scores of any Wii game to date (well Anubis II is close). That fact alone says it all.

ALSO RANS: Game Party, Legend of the Dragon, Escape From Bug Island, Tamagotchi: Party On!, Wing Island, Bust-A-Move Bash, World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions, Wii Play, cooking mama’s COOK OFF (you know the one - sadly they are making a sequel). Anyway … needless to say I could go on … but I think that is enough for today.

If I’ve saved just one person from making a mistake with this post then my work here is done. If nothing else, a good rule of thumb to take away form this is that if a title requires the use of ALL-CAPS on an exclamation point - it’s probably not for you. With a lot of great Wii titles under it’s belt, there where bound to be a few misses. Keep checking My Wii News for all the news, reviews and misques that are fit to print. Until next time, happy playing and may the good games be yours.

(Please let me know about any glaring omissions and I’ll happily add them. As well, I’m always looking for suggestions for future editions of ‘Canucklehead collections’ - hit me in the box below)

Sonic Unleashed Preview

Ever since Sega’s blue hedgehog thoughtlessly entered the three-dimensional world, the Sonic franchise began to sink deeper and deeper into a seemingly endless hole. Over the years Sega has made numerous attempts to bring back the glory to their prized mascot which at one time only Mario could rival. They failed time and time again, and while one of their latest attempts on the Wii (Sonic and the Secret Rings) was a good effort, it just did not capture the thrill and pleasure that the legendary franchise was once known for. The small spurt of reputation that came with Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games feebly pushed Sonic back onto the radar and is now giving the hedgehog another chance to leap back on to the podium of famous mascots.

Sonic Unleashed definitely has the chance to do just that. While Sonic’s latest adventure will be breaking new ground, it is also going to stick to it 2D side scrolling roots that worked so well for it in the past. A quote from the lead designer of the Sonic team, Yoshihisa Hashimoto, states that Sonic Unleashed will have no relation to Sonic the Hedgehog (360/PS3) or Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii). Instead it will have more in common with the older Sonic adventure games.

Everything about Sonic Unleashed has been developed completely from scratch, from its new character models, to its “Hedgehog Engine.” Players will still be able to use Sonic’s iconic moves, such as the “spin attack” and the “homing attack” but you can expect to see a bunch of new elements in the game that will give it a breath of fresh air.

Sonic has a few new tricks up his sleeve, including the new Sonic boost, which will have you collecting rings to fill up an energy bar that allow you to dash throughout the course at a high speed, Sonic Drift, which will allow players to take short, sharp turns at curves while running through the course, and the Quick Step, which allows players to move left or right rapidly to avoid an oncoming obstacle. We can probably expect to see more actions revealed at a later date.

Though details on the storyline are slim, it is confirmed that Sonic will turn into a “were-hog” at night time. It is also confirmed that in the beginning of the game Sonic will be trapped by Dr. Eggmans evil plan and the power of the Chaos Crystal will be misused and something inside Sonic’s body changes. This most likely causes him to turn into Were-Sonic during the nighttime levels. Were-Sonic has been reported not to be evil, but more of a Hulk-like version of sonic. So far Sonic’s trusty sidekicks Tails and Amy have been confirmed to be in the game, but it is still unknown if other fan favorites such as Knuckles or Shadow will be making an appearance.

It’s fine to be a little skeptical on the fact that there will be a new Were-Sonic in the game. But from what we can tell so far, Were-Sonic looks to be a welcome addition to the game and the franchise. According to Hashimoto, Sonic during the day will maintain his quick and agile speed, but during the night he is a slightly slower, and surprisingly a more agile beast. While regular Sonic darts past and aviods obstacles, Were-Sonic will “manhandle” them out of the way and can “toss enemies around like nobody’s business.” The Official Nintendo Magazine has reported that instead of running, Sonic will use his tremendously long arms to swing across the level, sort of like an ape.

There is also some very good news for us Wii owners, as Sega has said that the Wii version will be a graphical showcase for the system. The Official Nintendo Magazines reports that the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed has “shiny next-gen visuals.” It is even reported that the Wii is the lead-platform version of the game, while the PS2 version will simply be a downgrade from the Wii. Of course the 360/PS3 version may be tuned up with a little extra polish and gloss, but My Wii News cannot currently confirm this.

Very little is know about the gameplay and nothing is known about the controls of the game except that the main controller for the Wii version will use the the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo instead of holding the Wii Remote sideways like in Sonic and the Secret Rings. It is still not know if players will be able to use other controllers such as the Gamecube or Classic controllers, but it seems like Sega is trying to use the Wii Remote’s unique abilities to the fullest, so it appears to be unlikely.

The developers mention that their new side-scrolling camera angle works extremely well. While it keeps Sonic up to date with the 3D environments, it also allows for the game to keep that old Sonic essence that everybody knows and loves.

So far, Sonic Unleashed appears to be a breath of fresh air to the Sonic franchise which has been struggling over the past decade. Hardcore Sonic fans will definitely want to keep an eye out for this one, because we all know that we want the old Sonic back. I have high hopes for this game and it looks like it will show people that Sonic can be awesome in 3D too. Give us your thoughts by leaving us a comment below, check out the debut trailer, the ONM screens, and keep checking back to MyWiiNews.com for more Wii and Sonic info