Wii Fit = Mii Tired

I’ll be honest, when Nintendo revealed Wii Fit at last year’s E3, I was anything but excited. However, once my wife saw the footage — a woman who hasn’t played a video game since Tetris for the Gameboy came out — she immediately said, “We should buy that.” I should also point out that we didn’t even own a Nintendo Wii at this time, so I couldn’t help but raise my ears a little bit.

I know the excitement that comes on the day a game is going to launch, but my wife has never had such a feeling. In fact, it’s probably safe to assume that she could never understand why I got so excited about such a thing in the first place. It is, after all, only a game.

Then came Wednesday, May 21.

My gym-loving wife had already called a few stores and purchased Wii Fit, all before lunchtime. She told me afterwards that she finally knows why I get excited on launch day.

Wii Fit is a great supplement for anyone’s workout routine. Using the slightly heavy and durable Wii balance board, Wii Fit tracks a user’s weight and BMI (Body Mass Index) by measuring the user’s weight and height. After some calculating, the game will tell you if you are underweight, ideal, overweight or obese. Be prepared to hear the truth. The balance board doesn’t lie. In fact, it will go as far as making your preset Miis larger or smaller depending on the result.

From there, the game’s calendar allows you to track your progress as you work towards your goal of becoming more fit.

While Wii Fit may look quite simple, the techniques employed in the game can be quite laborious for people who have never done them before. Players will have the option between various Yoga poses, strength exercises, aerobics and balance mini-games. All present a good level of challenge, even for those who regularly exercise. An exercise trainer is built into the game to offer tips, encouragement and even suggestions as a means to maximize your workout.

The Yoga section allows the player to improve their balance, body control and posture through slow and focused positions. A yellow circle is placed on the screen and players must focus to keep a small red dot in the center of the circle for an extended time, all the while executing proper breathing and posture position. The exercise requires great focus and attention to the body’s center.

Strength exercises have the player doing everything from push-ups to lunges. These exercises are meant to push the player’s endurance as they must perform the activities with precision along a monitored tempo. After four exercises, I was ready to call it quits and retire to the couch to enjoy some much needed rest. The strength building techniques work on all aspects of the body, including upper body, abs and lower body.

The aerobics section is meant to get the player’s heart rate up. There are several activities, including step aerobics, jogging and cooperative running to improve the player’s cardio. The step aerobics are very intuitive and players are judged by how precise their movements are. Jogging and running employ a Mii trainer for you to follow on your desired length of run. Players will need to utilize the Wii Remote by either placing it in a pocket or holding it in their hand while running.

The balance games are used as a way to mask actual physical training. Games such as using a Hula-Hoop, walking a tight-rope and slalom skiing are just a few of the games that players can have fun completing and unlocking.

The game works on all levels. It not only provides an intense workout, but it is presented in a way that makes everything easy and inviting. The latter being the most significant for those who are apprehensive about working out. Exercising can be quite intimidating if you have never touched foot in a gym before. However, Wii Fit provides a very warm and inviting presence, allowing players to ease themselves into the game’s workout routine.

But there lies the rub.

Even though I was able to set a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly goal, the game doesn’t provide any feedback as to how to actually go about completing your goal. The player is given the tools and techniques, but they are left feeling lost when it comes to actually developing a routine, which is perhaps the most significant part of working out. For people who have never exercised before, how are they supposed to know the frequency and order of techniques to work on? Sure, the game may say that you are obese, but how do you go about improving on your health? It turns into a game of blind darts, where players just close their eyes and randomly select a fitness technique to work on.

This is where Wii Fit fails. The game does a great job of explaining each and every exercise, but there needs to be some way to give people a set routine. Perhaps the game should have launched with preset routines that could be scaled in difficulty. Otherwise, the player is left feeling lost in a sea of fitness techniques, which is sorely the case.

So while Wii Fit provides players with the tools to improve their health, it doesn’t provide a direction for players to follow. It’s like telling someone they need to drive to Albuquerque, New Mexico when they’ve never been there before. The driver is given a car and a full tank of gas, but no map. The end result is a lost driver meandering aimlessly until he finally gets tired of being confused. The basic principle of working out is to develop a routine and stick with it, which Wii Fit fails to provide. Any gym rat will tell you that repetition and consistency is the most important aspect of having a successful and meaningful workout. I’m confident that Wii Fit works at its goal of making the player healthier, but how many people will lose sight and give up when they find out that they don’t have the proper direction and guidance in game?

The Wii balance board then just becomes another useless peripheral that they shelled out hard-earned money for.

This is where I can see the Internet being a major player in the game’s success. By utilizing the Wii Channels, Wii Fit could sponsor an actual instructor to host fitness classes. This way, not only would the player have additional instruction on the techniques, but guidance on how to build a proper workout. Virtual Yoga classes, step aerobics classes and virtual marathons are all things that Wii Fit should be striving for if Nintendo really wants to revolutionize home fitness.

If the game can garner more direction, through the use of online sources, then Wii Fit can become a standard for any home exercise enthusiast. Until then… it just might be doomed to be another fancy paperweight.

Will Nintendo finally announce a HDD at this years E3?

For two years now, loyal Nintendo fans have been begging and pleading their beloved company for a hard drive and while their has been many rumors and a great deal of speculation we are still stuck here without one. Some gamers may disagree, but the mass majority of hardcore gamers all shout, “we need a hard drive!”

With game saves, virtual console, and now Wii-Ware, the 512mb of internal flash memory that Nintendo has provided us is quickly filling up. While we struggle with these problems, Nintendo repeatedly denies the fact that the Wii needs a hard drive. Here’s a quote from the NOA PR manager, Eric Walter.
“The way we look at it is, we don’t really want people storing every single game they buy on their drive…”

I really have no idea what that’s suppose to mean but it sure isn’t good. Hopefully what he is really saying is, “I’m making up something so that we can introduce the HDD at this years E3.”

While there have been awful comments by official Nintendo spokesman like the one above, there also have been pretty good ones to. A while back, Reggie Fils-Aime said that there is definitely a market out there that would like a HDD and it’s something that we always look into.
Also, here is a recent quote from Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata, addressing the Wii memory shortage problem.
“Statistically speaking, it is true that there are a small number of customers who feel that the flash memory is too small, while many others find that they have plenty of memory. However, because this small number of people are none other than the most avid players, we know we have to review the best possible solution to eliminate their inconvenience.”

Comments like these are very good, Nintendo is telling us that they know about the problem and they are doing what they can to fix it Maybe they’re brainstorming whether SD cards would work better or an HDD? But if using a SD card is the route that Nintendo takes then I think it is taking a step backwards. Both the 360 and PS3 uses HDD’s and they are very convenient. SD cards are basically the same thing as using a memory card. Although there are more possibilities when using a SD card over a memory card, they both have the sam annoyings setbacks. Thanks to their much smaller capacity, you’ll constantly be swapping SD cards while a much larger HDD would do the job all by itsef.

So basically, a hard drive would be the best and most convenient solution. It would even make Nintendo more money because everybody is buying other companies SD cards and not Nintendo’s because theirs is overpriced. It has been a while since the Wii has launched, and with all the speculation, rumors, and official comments, it looks like this years E3 could be the best time for Nintendo to announce a HDD. Nintendo has been talking about all of its issues for a while, they’ve said there going to look into but so far we’ve got nothing. Like voice chat for example, Reggie said that he, “would not be surprised if voice chat somehow made its way onto the Wii.” But still we see no Voice Chat.

Two things could happen at this years E3. One, Nintendo could totally ignore all of its problems, announce a few software titles, talk about how good the Wii is selling and their press conference would suck. On the other hand, they could announce a HDD, voice chat, show how they are going to improve the online interface, and announce some amazing software titles and they would have the best press conference out of the three big companies.

Nintendo has definitely pushed our patience to the limit and now I think they will finally address the issues. They will announce a HDD at this years E3 and if not they will address the memory problem with some sort of solution. I think they will also bring announce a Voice Chat feature, and make a few improvments to the online interface. If Nintendo does this right, this could be their big year at E3.

However, it looks like were just going to have to wait until July 15. My Wii News is gonna give you some E3 coverage so stay tuned. Leave a comment below saying what you think Nintendo will announce at E3 or take it to the forums; and keep checking back to My Wii News for more Wii and E3 info!

Why the Wii Will Remain on Top

Ever since the start of the next generation video game console war the Nintendo Wii has dominated the charts and has been declared the winner from early on and is still bringing in astronomical numbers to support this claim. Many video game analysts saw this coming due to its lower price and revolutionary new way to control video games, but most did not expect its sales figures to still tower over the competition nearly two years later. Sony’s next generation PlayStation 3 has far superior technical specifications and hardware and many people expected its sales to slowly rise due to better implementation of its hardware. This was Sony’s approach to the last console war (between the PS2, Xbox, Game Cube, and Dreamcast), and it worked magic for Sony putting them in a prime spot, with a large fan base and brand creditability, as the forerunner before the start of this console war. Yet nonetheless it has been nearly two years since the beginning of the next generation console wars and according to a recent report by independent marketing group, Nintendo not only is still in the lead but managed to do extraordinarily well in this last month of March in terms of sales figures (Game Pro). But why is it that the Nintendo Wii can outsell both of its competitors in one month and people still argue that the Wii will lose the console war (Nesbitt) and market analysts still say that in a few years another console will be the winner (Kotaku). While many people have little faith in Nintendo’s ongoing success there are many reasons why that success will remain and still hold Nintendo as the king of the console wars (for at least this generation).

One of the many reasons that the Wii sold nearly 721,000 Wii consoles in March of this year alone (McDougall) was due to the launch of the highly anticipated sequel to the bestseller Super Smash Bros Melee, Super Smash Bros Brawl for the Nintendo Wii. According to marketing research Brawl, which is an exclusive title for Wii, sold 2.7 million copies in March alone. This “exclusive title” strategy has been Nintendo’s ace in hole since the original Nintendo console established a fan base around Nintendo licensed characters such as Mario and Donkey Kong. Exclusive games are key to locking in an audience to a brand and establishing a strong cliental. Out of all the game developers and game companies no one has as long or well established of a list as Nintendo does for first party games. The fact that most of these games have been around for several years and have seen many incarnations is an indication to the buyer that when purchasing a new Mario, Zelda, or Metroid game; it will be a quality game that has been well refined and polished. If a consumer decides that they enjoyed that game and would like to play the next of that series when it releases that consumer will also have to own the appropriate Nintendo console to play that game. This is a classical case of “branding a consumer” which makes consumers associate with a specific brand to ensure that, that customer will not only purchase Nintendo’s product this time, but also for future purchases.

Along with the Wii’s exclusive titles, Nintendo has been pushing third party developers to create and port more games to the Wii so that a Wii owner will not feel like they are missing out on other games by only owning a Wii (which is exactly the way Nintendo wants Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners to feel in regard to the Wii). This concern over a large selection of games to entice a large selection of gamers for the Wii is something that skeptics of Nintendo have been citing as one of the reasons the Wii will not continue to outsell the other consoles. A Los Angeles Times article voiced this concern from Van Baker, a consumer technologies analyst for Gartner Inc. who said “Its appeal is primarily to casual gamers, and there’s a serious question about how long casual gamers will stay engaged with the platform. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them lose interest after a relatively short amount of time” (Pham). Baker said this about a year ago and it has not held true due to his false assumption that its primary buyer of the Wii would be casual gamers. In all of Nintendo’s marketing glory, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, Cammie Dunaway, acknowledged this obstacle overcome with this statement that accompanied last months remarkable sales figures. “Our momentum has not let up since the holidays and we expect it to continue throughout the year. We have the industry’s strongest lineup of games for everyone from core to casual gamers” (Nintendo). Beyond a broad lineup of quality games, exclusive titles, and brand loyalty, Nintendo has done many things specific to the Wii itself as to guarantee its continuing sales and triumph over the competition.

The Wii has received much criticism about its inferior hardware in comparison to Sony’s PS3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Its inability to play games or movies in high definition video and sound along with not being able to handle some new games because of its lack of processing power is one of the main reasons that critics of the Wii have written it off as dead. In that same LA Times article entitled “Can Wii prolong winning streak?” Van Baker said that “The Wii in a couple of years is going to look like old technology with low resolution, (and) slow performance. People may not be accepting of that” (Pham). Again while this prediction may hold true in some senses he makes the assumption that graphics and processing speed are the main factors in purchasing a video game console. This assumption is proven to be faulty by recent market research from NPD Group, an independent marketing group, which says that the most important elements gamers look at when buying a console are: having appealing game titles, backward compatibility, wireless controllers, Wi-Fi capability, and the ability to play online (NPD). While the first element is a huge reason why the Wii has been selling better than its competitors; Nintendo has nailed the other ones as well. The Nintendo Wii not only plays all Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo Game Cube games, but it also has a virtual library of 220 games from 12 different systems (according to the Virtual Console Wikipedia) which is updated weekly and gives gamers the ability to go online and download games onto their Wii system. The games available span from Nintendo classics to games that use to compete with Nintendo games in pervious console wars. Sony has tried to emulate Nintendo’s Virtual Console with its own online store but has not seen the same success due to lack of games and non-user friendly design. Sony’s new and updated PlayStation 3 has also lost the support to play most old PS2 and all old PS1 games due to the removal of the hardware that enabled backwards compatibility in efforts to cut production costs of the already costly PS3 (Doeer).

The next thing that gamers look for when purchasing a console according to market research is compatibility of wireless controllers. While this is something that all three next generation consoles boast, Nintendo has one upped the competition again by revolutionizing the video game controller as we know it and expanding the realm within which video games were once confined to. While this was a huge factor in the Wii’s initial success, and a reason for its continuing sells figures, this is how Nintendo has been able to turn people traditionally described as “non-gamers” into “casual gamers”.

The last two elements that gamers want when shopping for a next generation console is Wi-Fi support and the ability to play online. While Nintendo has been criticized in the past for overlooking these elements, they made sure that they would not hear those criticisms again by giving the Wii not only both of these features but made these features user friendly and accessible. While the amount of online payers for the Wii still cannot even compare to Microsoft’s popular Xbox Live online gaming service (which has the benefit of having a huge head start as it launched in 2002), slowly more and more Nintendo games are finding their way to online games and matches as more online enabled games release and gain popularity on the Wii. Not only is it becoming easy for Nintendo gamers to find games online but they don’t have to pay for a service like Xbox Live which costs about $8 a month. On top of that and the ease of connectivity through Wi-Fi, the Wii has the most accessible and intuitive web browser of the three consoles; developed by Opera specifically for the Wii which makes actually surfing the web through a Wii not only a possibility but a realistic alternative to computer browsing.

So while the Nintendo Wii may not be the fastest or prettiest console, Nintendo knew exactly what it was doing when they built it. The key to Nintendo’s success and the reason why the Wii will continue to succeed is hard to say exactly because it is a combination of many different market and design factors along with many external and unknown factors that cannot be calculated or determined. But the one thing that can be said with regard to the Wii’s success is that it is heavily due to Nintendo’s intimate knowledge and understanding of its consumer along with the ability to deliver the goods based on that knowledge. This is what put the Wii on top since it released, and this is what will keep it there.

Works Cited

Doerr, Nick. “Goodbye, Emotion Engine, you were quite useful.” PS3FanBoy.com 09 July 2007 24 April 2008 <http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2007/07/09/goodbye-emotion-engine-you-were-quite-useful/>.

GamePro, “Wii Outsells Combined Xbox 360, PS3 Sales in March.” PC World 17 April 2008 24 April 2008 <http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,144790-pg,1/article.html>.

Kotaku, “Analyst: Xbox 360 To Win The Console War.” Kotaku, the Gamer’s Guide 24 April 2008 <http://kotaku.com/gaming/analyst/analyst-xbox-360-to-win-the-console-war-215076.php>.

McDougall, Paul. “Nintendo Wii Sales Trounce Xbox 360, PlayStation 3.” Information Week 18 April 2008 24 April 2008 <http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207400644>

Nesbitt, Brett. “The Top 5 Reasons The Wii Will Lose The Console War.” Qtions Blog 08 April 2008 24 April 2008 <http://qtions.com/2008/04/top-5-reasons-wii-will-lose-console-war.html>.

Nintendo, “NPD Reports Nintendo’s Solid U.S. Sales for February.” Nintendo of North America News 13 March 2008 24 April 2008 <http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/6nUWwCOu1jsNuHKUpCR8eRr6Vl1VBST_>.

NPD, “NPD Press Release - November 12, 2006.” NPD Marketing Group 13 Nov 2006 24 April 2008 <http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_061113.html>.

Pham, Alex. “Can Wii prolong winning streak?” Los Angeles Times 29 May 2007 24 April 2008 <http://globaltechforum.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=rich_story&channelid=3&categoryid=9&title=Can+Wii+prolong+winning+streak%3F&doc_id=10825>.

“Virtual Console.” Wikipedia.com 24 April 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Console>.

My Wii News Forums Are Open

Hello everyone!  We are happy to announce the opening of our forums. It is something that is long overdue for My Wii News and it has finally arrived. It’s a community forum where everyone can gather to discuss game strategies, exchange friend codes, ask questions, submit reviews, read reviews, or just hang out and shoot the breeze. Please feel free to contribute your views, opinions and information.

No matter your gaming forte, there is a forum there for you, so come on in and join us for a while. We will be monitoring the forums so if you need any help or feel the need to be entertained, we will do our best to serve you.

The link to the forums is in the “navigation bar” near the top of the page, or you could simply click the link below.

http://www.mywiinews.com/forums

Piggybacking old IPs: Can we get our retro groove on?

There’s no denying that Nintendo uses old IPs to generate “fresh” content for the Wii. In many cases, it is a successful venture for both the company and the gamers.

Nintendo’s previous systems haven’t seen all of these great games at the same time like the Wii has. We’ve seen an amazing new Mario platformer, a new Metroid Prime, and excellent party games like Brawl, Mario Party 8, and Mario Kart Wii.

And in many cases, retro gamers can love the Wii for bringing that familiar, classic feel to some new titles.

The circus parade of IP piggybacking will never end, and here are some of the games that will make us never want it to.

Kid Icarus

Certainty of appearance: 80%

Reggie has done his part to spark rumors about an exciting new “blockbuster” coming to the Wii this year, to be announced at E3. Well, that was mostly because he actually said so:

“We are going to have great new content maximizing all our key franchises… It’s going to be a good second half.”

The internet lit on fire with rumors of a new Kid Icarus game, and all the townsmen worked to put it out. It isn’t a surprising assumption, since Pit made a stellar appearance in Smash Bros. Brawl.

However, Kid Icarus hasn’t been a key franchise for years. But it would be new content.

Pilotwings

Certainty of appearance: 50%

Pilotwings, not seen since the N64 days, was hinted at way back when the Wii was the “Revolution” prior to its release.

Also rumored to be a scrapped project, nothing was heard of regarding a new game until early this month when Nintendo whispered into everyone’s ears that a new Pilotwings could be on its way.

The idea of a reincarnation of everyone’s favorite flying game is nothing new for Wii gamers who once owned a SNES. The Super Nintendo original made me wet myself with Mode 7 sweetness, and only the Wii could deliver that same feeling. At the very least, let’s hope.

R-Type (and other scrolling shooters)

Certainty of appearance: 75%

Super R-Type, one of my favorite side-scrolling shooters of all time, combined tactical agility with intense graphics to deliver gameplay that still leaves me shivering to this day. Do we really need to see R-Type outside of the Virtual Console? Well, yes. But we could settle for some other scrolling shooters? A vertical scroller, like Ikaruga, maybe? I know thatwould find a great home in the Wii.

However, imagine how the Wii *could* make these scrolling shooters “different.” We all love button-mashing at times, but if a different angle could be taken on these shooters, then we could have a new use for our Wii Wheels or Zappers. Actually turning your ship to avoid crazy-looking space aliens sounds rather appealing and downright fun!

An old IP from the NES days could deliver just that, bringing us to…

Captain Skyhawk

Certainty of appearance: 5%

If anyone loves Captain Skyhawk as much as I do, they should get a dollar. The above/behind third-person angle in this shooter is, arguably, the perfect angle for the Wii Wheel to operate at.

Captain Skyhawk, released by Milton Bradley and developed by the now Microsoft-owned Rare, is difficult, unique, and fun. Sadly, there’s no doubting that this splendid title has gone completely missing, forgotten by time by practically everyone who plays videogames. It deserves to be more than that! Nintendo could really do something neat with it, and what would surprise people more than a new game based on an old one that no one even knows about?

The point in these last two picks of mine is that the Wii is missing good games in this genre. We have a couple of rail shooters, but we need some scrollers, whether they are vertical, side-scrolling, or some crazy combination of the two. Actually, some crazy combination of the two would sound perfect in a new Star Fox game…

F-Zero

Certainty of appearance: 100%

If Pilotwings made me wet myself with Mode 7 excitement, then the original F-Zero (which I still play a few times a week) makes me go into cardiac arrest. There’s no doubting that we’ll see a new F-Zero; it has rightfully appeared on every Nintendo console since the SNES. In fact there are plenty of rumors that “F-Zero Z” will be announced at E3 this June.

However, nothing struck as much gold as the original did. With that wonderful “retro-feel,” a new F-Zero could maintain its stance as the only racer you need aside from Mario Kart.

Double Dragon

Certainty of appearance: 30%

The Wii is missing key players in a few genres. Just like scrolling shooters, we need more beat-em-ups. With the recent virtual console release of the original, the desire for a new Double Dragon game has reached a new high at my apartment (and probably at yours, too).

Whether it would come in the form of Final Fight, Double Dragon, Golden Axe, a Battletoads game (there’s my vote), or Streets of Rage; we need more beat em’ up games, preferably ones of the multiplayer variety.

Single-screen chaos can be easily delivered by many developers, and here’s to hoping that Ubisoft tries to make up for TMNT with a real Turtles arcade game.

Super Spike V’Ball

Certainty of appearance: 45%, in a different form

Volleyball video games are generally bad. They tend to spit on their excessively fun ancestors, like Super Spike V’Ball.

In Super Spike, you get to pick from various cool dudes (including Billy and Jimmy from the Double Dragon series!) and duke it out on the sandy court in pairs in a simple game of volleyball. There are only a few “moves” in the game, consisting of saves, normal hits, blocks, and spikes.

When going up for a block or spike, however, you can charge up your character by mashing the B button repeatedly. Therefore, your spike becomes a super spike, and is quite likely to send the opponent flying when you hit him in the face with it. *Sigh*. Why isn’t this coming to at least Wii Ware? If there’s any truly untapped sport in the history of video games… well it’s probably shuffleboard. But volleyball’s up there.

If we were to see this game, it would likely include Miis and be part of a second, rumored Wii Sports package, and probably resemble tennis from the original Wii Sports. Here’s to hoping they do it right!

Can we go retro with Wii Ware?

This is an important question to pose, as the Wii Ware service will provide cheap Wii exclusives from small-time developers. It could be a cost-effective way to get those fun little games that aren’t worth $50 (let alone $30) out in the sun. Even if the graphics of some of these games aren’t going to be spectacular, this new marketplace of retro titles could bring out the classic scrolling shooters and beat em’ ups that are overflowing with wonderful gameplay that the Wii is sorely missing.

If major developers back the service as well, here are some IPs that we could only hope would make an appearance on WiiWare:

Metroid

Metroid Prime 3 was excellent. But aren’t we done with the Prime series yet? Can’t Samus return to her 2d platforming roots? This is a perfect opportunity for Retro Studios to explore the 2D/3D door that Super Paper Mario left open without much risk, as a small title to check the average gamers’ interest in a fully 2D adventure would be a great way for Retro Studios to see if people really want a new game.

Mega Man

Like Metroid, Mega Man hasn’t seen his 2D Nintendo days in years (unless you count Network Transmission on Gamecube from 2003, which I don’t). A good, new Mega Man X game is overdue, and if Capcom utilizes the Wii Ware service like they should, Mega Man can rightfully return to his roots.

Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, etc.

The glory years of RPGs were (debatably) had on the Super Nintendo. Sure, Square-Enix (then Squaresoft,) had much success with its post-Nintendo, PlayStation iterations, but when any gamer is asked what their favorite RPG is, often it is Chrono Trigger or another RPG from the SNES era. As some of you may know, Square-Enix is already planning on bringing the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series to the Wii this year. However, the lack of RPGs for the Wii is crippling, and a new Chrono game would be perfect right about now. Aside from Square-Enix, other RPG devoperss need to help us out.

Castlevania

Castlevania rules. The 3D versions? Not so much. Someday, Konami will realize this. After all, the DS ports are becoming more and more successful. A simple Wii Ware game that would bring the series back to its 2D platforming ways would easily rejuvenate the series (and hopefully fend off any Castlevania movies). Now, who wants to write a letter to producer Koji Igarashi to convince him that he’s wrong about it not being fit for the Wii? A quick note, Koji, you don’t *have* to use the remote to use the whip in the game like everyone thinks. It just might be a fun option to include. The advantage with the Wii are the abundant options in control schemes, and I’m sure you can find a way to make it work!

Contra

Contra 4 on the DS was awesome. It is so easy to want more of that classic gunning action. The Wii would be a perfect place for that four-players-at-once dream that fell through on the DS game to come alive once again. Konami, are you listening?

There are many titles worthy of being resurrected. Sadly, many publishers opt for the safety and comfort of releasing (Madden) the same (Madden) games (Madden) over and over again. With the Wii Ware service, we should see more fresh content, even if it comes in the form of resurrecting older IPs. Be sure to check back each week with My Wii News’ Wiikly Releases, keeping you up to date on the great new Wii titles every week.

Hopefully some of the above titles will see the light of day, that way we can all never leave our homes, quit our jobs, and play Wii every day. With all my ranting and raving about my favorite retro games, I just have to ask: What games would you like to see brought back?