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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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.

Last second guesses: Chris Evans

E3 has begun and Nintendo’s press conference is just hours away. That leaves us just enough time for some final guesses on what they will announce.

With the Wii MotionPlus already unveiled in a sneak preview on Nintendo’s website, they are bound to have a game to go with it, much like they did with the Wii Zapper and Link’s Crossbow Training. It could be another simple game bundled with the device (Link’s Sword Training perhaps?) or we could have the dream announcement of a brand new full Zelda title that uses the MotionPlus for true 1:1 sword control. They may also have a new version of the Wii Remote that has the MotionPlus built in, but that will more likely be something for the future.

It’s widely believed that a new Animal Crossing is on its way, with some speculating that it will have MMO elements. Personally though, I think it is more likely to be an evolution of the previous games, but with the ability to send gifts and visit other players’ villages online. I’m also expecting this to be the first retail title to feature downloadable content, as Nintendo have already used with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on WiiWare.

I think we can look at Super Smash Bros Brawl for clues to returning franchises (no, they aren’t going to bring back R.O.B.). Kirby has suddenly been joined by two other main characters from the series, along with Captain Olimar from Pikmin, despite neither having a home console release in four years. Rumours of an unreleased Kirby title on Gamecube being moved to Wii have been around for a long time, and the Wii Remote seems perfect for controlling Pikmin, so either could make a comeback.

Something I’m not expecting is different coloured Wiis. As much as we may want them, Nintendo won’t waste them while the Wii is still selling as well as it is. They will probably be at next years E3 when sales have started to slow.

Finally, there has to be a solution for the storage problem, especially as E3 is bound to see a barrage of new WiiWare titles. My gut feeling is that they will use SD cards, but there is still a chance they will go for a hard drive. If they do, I picture it being a similar size and shape to the Wii itself, and that it would come with a new silver base to replace the one you get with the Wii, that would hold the console and hard drive next to each other.

Ultimately though, I’m expecting the unexpected. Nintendo have a habit of blindsiding us with products that no one saw coming (who predicted the Wii Remote or Wii Fit?) and there’s no reason why this year should be any different. Tune in later for all the news from the show.

Free Radical bringing Star Wars: Battlefront III to Wii?

It seems the rumours that Free Radical are making Star Wars: Battlefront III are true. On Tuesday Amazon showed listings for the game on Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, DS and, most surprisingly, Wii.

The Battlefront games are multiplayer-driven, third-person shooters that drop the player into massive battles on land and space in control of numerous troops, ships and vehicles, including both heroes and villains from the Star Wars movies.

IGN has reported that two independent sources that have confirmed the listings to be correct and that Free Radical are the developers. The listings on Amazon have since been taken down, presumably at the request of publisher LucasArts. This comes almost two years after LucasArts announced that they had signed a development deal with Free Radical for an unnamed game.

This comes as great news to Wii owners, as not only are we getting the new installment of a fantastic franchise, but it comes from the team behind the TimeSplitters series and GoldenEye on the N64 - some of the best first-person-shooters of the past two generations, and games that Nintendo fans will no doubt have fond memories of.

However, with the looming presence of a PS2 title, we can hope that we don’t just get a port to the Wii with tacked-on some token waggle controls, as is typical of multi-platform titles. The cheap cash-in has never been Free Radical’s style though, so we can confidently look forward to a game built from the ground up for Wii.

The big question is can they make a game with this much focus on multiplayer and co-op gaming work well on Wii, or will they drop online gaming altogether for the Wii version?

Perhaps LucasArts know something we don’t about Nintendo’s future plans for online gaming or voice chat (Editor’s note: After all, Vicarious Visions was able to recently confirm that Guitar Hero 4 will feature downloadable content, after previously expressing displeasure at Nintendo’s lack of attention to their online flaws in the Wii).

Either way, at the moment it’s safe to be optimistic about Free Radical’s first outing on Wii. We’ll be watching for this one!