Wii MotionPlus to come with sequel to Wii Sports

The newly announced Wii MotionPlus will be released alongside a sequel to Wii Sports - Wii Sports Resort, a Game Reggie describes as “Literally a day at the beach!”  The game will also come with an extended jacket for the remote to accommodate the Wii MotionPlus, as shown in pictures of the device.

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Animal Crossing: City Folk Confirmed for this year

Animal Crossing, one of the most anticipated titles this year has just been confirmed to be coming out this year. In Animal Crossing you live in a town and do what you like. There is no real goal to the game, other then to share and enjoy it. The purpose of the game, according to the creator, is to feel like your really in a living breathing world. Read more »

Wii Speak - Wii gets voice chat!

Nintendo have finally addressed the requests for voice chat on Wii.  Rater than use a headset for individual players, ‘Wii Speak’ will use a microphone that mounts on top of the sensor bar and connects to the Wii via USB.  This will make it what they a ‘community mic’, allowing everyone in the room to interact with other players around the world.  The first title to use Wii Speak will be Animal Crossing: City Folk which is scheduled for release this year.  They showed a demo of three players visiting someone’s city and chatting while they had a fishing contest.

No other titles were mentioned that will support Wii Speak, but Call of Duty: World at War and Star Wars: Battlefront III both look like ideal candidates.  It also remains to be seen weather it will be backwards compatible with existing online titles such as Mario Kart Wii.  Stay Tuned for more info and images.

Shaun White Snowboarding for Wii!

Just in - Nintendo’s first announcement with  E3 2008 in their conference is a new balance board + Wii Remote game called Shaun White Snowboarding.

You lean forward to speed up, crouch, and other such movements on the balance board to control your character and snowboard.  Your Wii Remote controls tricks, jumping, and other movements you can’t make on the balance board.  Mii’s included.

Expect the game by the end of the year.  Stay tuned for gameplay images, it looks nice!

Last second guesses: Mike Suszek

Chris already wrote about the Wii MotionPlus.  So I don’t need to go there.  It is an exciting new perhipheral, and we’re sure to hear about a pack-in game made just for it.

But the biggest hype this year for Nintendo fans has been guessing what IPs will be resurrected.  Will it be Kirby?  A true Donkey Kong?  And ungodly wonderful Metroid game?  That rumored Kid Icarus game?

My guess - we’ll see at least one resurrected IP, and one brand new IP.  Nintendo busting out something new is… extreme, but likely.  Here are some possibilities:

Pikmin 3 - The obvious point-and-click mechanic would work well for a sequel.

Metroid Prime Hunters Wii - Both Echoes for Gamecube and the online multiplayer game for DS convinces me that Retro is okay with bringing the single player adventure series to the multiplayer gaming masses.  And Metroid Prime 3’s shooting mechanic demands that kind of online goodness.  Didn’t they guarantee we’d get online content anyways?

Kid Icarus - Well, his appearance in Brawl became a quick indicator to many that we would see a new game.  Sure, the same can be said of other Brawl characters (is there going to be a new R.O.B.?).  Would the game be good?  Yes, it would.

Star Fox - It comes out on every system.  It will come out for Wii.  Maybe not in this E3, but we could use another use for our Wii Wheels.

Mario - What?  What are you talking about, Mike?  We’ve already got 17,000 Mario games!  Why another?

Here’s why.  Have you ever heard of Super Mario Bros. 4?  Neither have I.  And with the massive success of New Super Mario Bros. on the DS, and the looming presence of Mega Man 9 on Wii Ware, Nintendo has a new avenue to stroll their best franchise down, and it would be memory lane.

This is what could happen.  What are my guesses?  We should see a new Zelda game.  We’re going to see more DS/Wii connectivity.  We’ll see a game specifically for the MotionPlus.  Perhaps a Mario Party 9, that uses practically every crazy perhipheral that attaches to the Wii Remote.

In terms of what is needed on the Wii, we need two things.  We need a true online multiplayer experience.  We need a Goldeneye for the Wii, a game that proves Nintendo is committed to the gamer.  And since they claim they are, we are sure to see an announcement that proves it.

We also need a good RPG.  So my top prediction is… a new Earthbound game.  Man, I hope I’m right.

Stick around for more E3 coverage, Nintendo is due up in about 10 minutes.  Wow, talk about last second guesses!