The Coming Wii Games Release Onslaught

With the holiday shopping season nearing, I was curious to see just how many Wii games were planned for release between now and the end of the year. Any guesses? Well, if you guessed around 140, you’d be pretty darn close. Don’t get too excited, though… in that mix are games like ActiVision’s “Kitty Luv” where you groom and take care of your kitten and a few dozen other “Are you serious?” titles. I’ll pull together the entire list for a future post.

There is one, however, that shines through and I expect it will be high demand item for this holiday season:

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party

Quickly becoming known as “the game you can play with your butt”, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party ingeniously incorporates the Wii Fit board into a game that will become a “must have” for parties. From the early reviews of the pre-release version, it looks like it will set the bar for other games incorporating the Wii Fit board.

Here’s the description from Ubisoft:

First they invaded the world and, now your TV!

The Rabbids have taken over almost every channel you can imagine, from music to movies – even TV ads! Help the Rabbids destroy all our daily viewing and drive Rayman crazy.

In Story Mode, play through a week of television, with each day bringing new wacky challenges of skill and insane movements in a compilation of mini-games. With up to eight players in turn-based mode and four players simultaneously, get ready for you and all your friends to go insane!

Key Features

• Unique use of the Wii Balance Board™. Play loads of exciting new games with the new Wii Balance Board and experience the first game in the world that you can play with your rear end!
• New wacky games. 65+ brand-new games that spoof popular culture, from TV series to TV classics, not to mention insane ads!
• All-new party mode. Play co-op or battle your friends simultaneously with up to four players, or go crazy with up to eight players in party mode! You can even sabotage your friends while they are playing!
• Unique use of the Wii Remote™. Discover new and innovative ways to play with eight types of gameplay, including shaking, precision, dexterity and balance.
• Shake that Rabbid. Use the Wii Remote and Wii Balance Board to dance and wiggle your booty.
• Customize your bunny. Pimp your bunny out, take his photo and send it to your friends online.

Release Date: November 11, 2008. What timing! You can gorge yourself at Thanksgiving and then squirm away those extra calories.

Wii Fit Sells 1 Million

One month, one million. That is a pretty impressive feat for any game, let alone one that dives headfirst into such untested grounds as videogame fitness as Wii Fit does. Wii Fit has become a very major hit in Japan, reports Japan’s business news source Nikkei, selling over one million WiiFit packages (the game and balance board together) as of Jan. 6. Unlike many of my more cynical gaming friends, I can’t wait to get my hands on this and see if it can actaully whip me back into some sort of decent shape. Reports from Japan make it seem pretty fun and show it as working well but we won’t know till later this year when the Wii Fit comes to US shores. Even if excersing does turn out to be a lame duck we can always keep our fingers crossed that companies will actaully use the board for some really innovative games like, say, a Back to the Future hover board game. Am I the only one who would be excited for that? Guys? Come on!

[Via GameIndustry.biz]