High Voltage Software‘s The Conduit has been getting some incredible press lately.  The technology that has been created to work with Wiimotes and control is apparently pretty stellar, as are some of the mapping and rendering techs that have been used in the game.  Check out this video:

An article at BusinessWeek of all palces comments on the game and the technology:

So far, the game’s best feature are its graphics, which look great. We’re not talking Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 quality, but High Voltage’s (the developer) proprietary technology allows them to create a sprawling city environment with an impressive level of detail, including shimmering water, real time reflections and sweet fire effects. Aliens appear cool and menacing, with glowing eyes and large, contorted bodies. Weapons look great, as Ford can easily fire off a few rounds with his pistol before seamlessly transitioning to his assault rifle. Even better, the action moves at a brisk pace, with only a few hiccups when too many enemies clutter the screen.

Whoa.  This is coming out in Q1 of 2009.  And I will hopefully be playing it.

Wiiware World posted an article about the top twenty WiiWare games from stats in the good ol’ USA.  The list was made on 3 December 2008, so this might have changed a little since then.

1 (1) – World of Goo
2 (2) – Tetris Party
3 (4) – My Aquarium
4 (5) – Target Toss Pro: Bags
5 (3) – Brain Challenge
6 (8) – Dr Mario Online Rx
7 (7) – Mega Man 9
8 (9) – Defend your Castle
9 (10) – Midnight Bowling
10 (-) – Sudoku Challenge
11 (12) – Bomberman Blast
12 (6) – Strong Bad Episode 4 – Dangeresque 3
13 (13) – My Pokémon Ranch
14 (14) – Wild West Guns
15 (15) – TV Show King
16 (11) – The Incredible Maze
17 (16) – Frat Party Games – Pong Toss
18 (17) – Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
19 (19) – LostWinds
20 (-) – Boingz

I hear that World of Goo is a great, great game.  Any reviewers care to comment?

Remember, you need Wii Points for WiiWare.  World of Goo is 1500 Wii Points in itself – get a Wii Points Card, or two!  Wii points seem to be about a penny a point lately, or a buck per 100.

I guess we’re behind the times a little here, but GHOSTBUSTERS WII!!!!  Vivendi is releasing this game on June 16 of 2009, and you can guarantee that yours truly will be playing the heck out of this, as soon as it hits the house.  I found a trailer of it, below, and Amazon is pre-order selling now.  I know it’s Christmas and all, and it’s not coming out until next summer, but it’s Ghostbusters!

More games by Vivendi here – the Wii-only list is here.  There are so many good games listed for sale by Vivendi that I wanted to include all platforms.

A quick Ghostbusters description:

The Ghostbusters are back in an all-new story penned by the original creators, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis! With Manhattan newly overrun by ghosts and other supernatural creatures, it’s up to you to take on the role of a new recruit joining the original film cast of the famous Ghostbusters team. Equipped with a variety of unique weapons and gadgets, you will hunt, fight and capture a wide range of uncanny phantasms and demons in an all new funny and frightening battle to save New York City from its latest paranormal plague. Just remember to not cross the streams!

IGN had a post on a new character that’s emerging in the Fragile release in Japan in about a month.  From IGN’s post:

The big reveal for this latest update is a new character, Shin. The white-haired Shin is a young scientist whose genius has made him the target of envy from his peers. There’s a catch to his smarts, though. Shin’s not the talker. The catch phrase provided for him by Bandai Namco (each character has one of these) is “Words are really an inefficient means of communication.”

The actor playing Shin, Toshio Furukawa, should be familiar, if you ever played Metal Gear Solid (SNAAAAAKE!).  Furukawa played Roy Campbell and Jann Lee in Metal Gear Solid.  Namco Bandai has a good one on their hands.

Check out this Fragile trailer from Game Trailers:

Amazon’s got the Wii Classic Controller down three bucks to $16.96.  I bought two of these at full price a year or so ago because I wanted to play StarTropics and F-Zero on WiiWare.  They’re decent controllers!

If you don’t have one, get one!

Since I’ve been playing Wii Sports so much lately, I figured I’d post about some of the Sports Accessory Packs that have been making their rounds for retail lately.  I’m still using my good ol’ sense of imagination, but who knows – perhaps Santa will be good to us this year!

The Wii Grand Slam Sports Pack, by CTA Digital:

The Wii 9 In 1 Sports Pack, again by CTA Digital:

The Wii Sports Pack, by Core Gamer:

The Wii Nerf Sports Pack, which also comes in RED, BLACK, and GREEN, from PDP:

The Wii Soft Sport Kit, from DreamGear:

The Wii 6-in-1 Sports Kit from ICON:

and last but definitely not least or final on this list, the Wii 3-in-1 Sports Pack with Glow-In-The-Dark Effects, from Hyperkin:

Amazon’s doing this thing right now – for the next 15 days (it actually started on December 2), they’re having a new deal on games each day, with limited supply.

So far, there’s six deals, most of them pretty decent:

Active Life Outdoor Challenge – $39.98, down from $59.99!

We Love Golf! – $19.98, down from $39.98!

Wii Fit Silicone Balance Board Sleeve – $2.98

Wii Fit Energy Pack (a 30-hours-of-Wii-Fit-Play device) – $4.98, down from $19.99!

Wii Power Adaptor – $3.98, down from $24.99!

and finally…

The Wii Maracas – $4.98, down from $14.98!

There’s lots of stuff on sale other than these as well, and I’ll keep posting them!

Does your HDTV have a SCART input, or are you out of HDMI inputs and need to use a SCART connection?  I can’t believe I just found one of these, but I did.  On Amazon.  It’s a Wii video output to SCART cable.

Crazy!

For some reason I have been playing a LOT of Wii Tennis lately.  As with all of the games on Wii Sports, there are all kinds of “hand”-iworking you can do with the Wiimote.  I found a great post on Wanderings.net about Wii Tennis tips and tricks.  Check it out.

Did you know there was a Japanese Version of Wii Sports on Amazon?

I’ve seen a couple of very interesting commercials regarding this game.  Anyone play it yet?  Rayman Raving Rabbits looks like something I could be very addicted to!

Check this out!

Thanks, Gametrailers!

I found this video on Vimeo this morning – user Zhao He has figured out how to make the Wiimote and Wii Fit work in a drumset capacity.  Thanks for this, Zhao He!

Wii Drum High Tutorial from Zhao He on Vimeo.

A bunch of Wii games are on sale today for “Cyber Monday”:

Guitar Hero World Tour – $69.99 (was $99.99)
Guitar Hero Aerosmith – $19.99 (was $39.99)
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – $49.95 (was $89.99)
Shaun White Snowboarding – $39.99 (was $49.99)
LEGO Batman – $43.95 (was $49.99)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – $39.96 (was $49.99)
Game Party – $9.95 (was $19.95)
Winter Sports The Ultimate Challenge – $19.99 (was $29.99)
Okami – $19.95 (was $39.99)
We Love Golf! – $9.95 (was $39.99)
Wii 5-In-1 Fitness Bundle – $25.95 (was $59.99)