Did you ever play the original Secret Files?  I think it was a PC game before anything.  I just read that Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis will be making its way to Wii in May - SIGN ME UP!  I assume it’ll preorder soon, and as soon as it does, I’ll post it.

Deep Silver, the games label of Koch Media, a leading producer and distributor of digital entertainment products, announced that “Secret Files 2 - Puritas Cordis” is on its way into production. So players can look forward to May 8th when the game will be released for PC, Wii and Nintendo DS.

About “Secret Files 2 - Puritas Cordis”:

Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis… the world is on the brink of disaster. By the time Nina Kalenkow realizes that the recent catastrophes were caused not by nature, but by an unscrupulous secret society known as Puritas Cordis, it is almost too late.

While her ex-boyfriend Max, a scientist, witnesses the brutal methods of Puritas Cordis at the excavation site of an ancient Indonesian temple complex, Nina joins forces with a priest in France to investigate the connection between the secret society’s sinister prophesies and the creepy leader of an ancient order. A dramatic race against time begins.
Will the protagonists be able to avert the impending apocalypse?

Product information:
Platform: PC, Nintendo DS^TM and Wii^TM
Genre: Graphic Adventure
Developer: Animation Arts and Fusionsphere Systems (PC),
keen games (Nintendo DS, Wii)
Publisher: Deep Silver
Release: May 8th 2009
Website: http://secretfiles.deepsilver.com/

Thanks, GoNintendo!

The Associated Press posted a press release about Wii’s $50 million dollar sales record - worldwide!

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese game maker Nintendo Co. said Thursday global sales of its popular Wii video game console have topped 50 million since it went on sale worldwide in late 2006.

Nearly 50 percent of the total sales of the Wii machine were in the United States and Canada, with Europe accounting for about 40 percent and Japan taking much of the rest, said the maker of Pokemon and Super Mario games.

The Wii hit stores first in the United States in November 2006, and went on sale in Japan and Europe in early December of the same year.

The Wii game console has quickly become a smash hit, in large part due to its unique wireless controller. The wand-like controller is equipped with motion sensors that allow users to control game action by jabbing and swinging it through the air. Wii games, including “Wii Fit,” “Wii Play,” and “Mario Kart Wii,” have all become global best sellers.

Apart from the Wii console, Nintendo has sold more than 100 million Nintendo DS portable handheld game machines worldwide in just four years and 3 months — a milestone reached at the quickest pace for any video game console.

Compared to Sony, which has long appealed to hard-core gamers with its PlayStation series, Nintendo has scored hits with easier-to-play games that attract newcomers to gaming, including the elderly.

Nintendo’s DS comes with a touch panel, making it possible to play some games without dealing with complex button-pushing.

Using the Wii Balance Board and Wiimote/Nunchuk combo, you climb a rock wall.  It’s as easy as that.  At the Game Developers Conference that just happened, the Rock and Roll Climber game was previewed.  The weirdest part?  As soon as you negotiate the wall, the character grabs a guitar out of the ground and pulls off a heavy metal lick.

Well, that’s - um - hey cool!

The interface looks pretty cool - the Balance Board detects balance shifting, and the climbing controls look interesting.  I’ll reserve judgement.

Thanks, Kotaku!

One of my absolute favorite titles ever is Call of Duty - World at War.  I got this for Christmas from my sister, and after I got my butt kicked through it twice, I discovered online play.  I love online play - and this game is exciting.

I just read an article saying that Call of Duty - World at War just sold over a million copies, which isn’t completely verified yet, but WOW.  That franchise is quite possibly one of the best ones out there in the war-shooting-battle category.  What you got for us next, boys?

Thanks, GoNintendo!

Game maker Electronic Arts (EA) is releasing two games using the MotionPlus technology, which is the technology that Nintendo is adding that gives the Wiimote even more detailed control.

Does it?  I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t say for sure.

From Nintendo’s website:

Nintendo’s upcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory for the revolutionary Wii Remote controller again redefines game control, by more quickly and accurately reflecting motions in a 3-D space. The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion. Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play. The Wii MotionPlus accessory reconfirms Nintendo’s commitment to making games intuitive and accessible for everyone. Nintendo will reveal more details about the Wii MotionPlus accessory and other topics Tuesday morning at its E3 media briefing.

Sounds pretty interesting, right?

EA’s two games - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and and unnamed EA tennis game, will both employ the MotionPlus technology.  Exciting!

Thanks, Kotaku!

I discovered something today that really sucks.  Some people are hacking Mario Kart online and are doing their best to ruin the fun for other people.

This morning I was playing a few rounds of Mario Kart online when I was put into a race with a few people who for some reason had the uncanny ability to have an endless supply of Bob-Ombs, and would target and chase other players around the course bombing the crap out of us.  One race, for example, I got about halfway through the second lap (on Moo Moo Meadows, which is a pretty short course, if that tells you anything) before the race ended.  These folks just followed a few of us around spitting out a constant supply of bombs.  The next round, one of these fools had a constant supply of the blue flying turtle shells that pretty much bring the game to a standstill, and I got through half of the first round of Coconut Mall before the race ended.

As far as I know, there are no online cheats or hacks in Mario Kart, so this really sucks.  It makes playing online pretty unfun, especially if you had a ton of VR racked up and just lost 500 of it due to these cheaters.

Nintendo, if you know about this, please make it stop.  If you are reading and have ever run into this problem, leave a note in the comments so we can put a stop to this.  If you’re one of these cheaters, what exactly is the fun in ruining the game for everyone?

Game Politics blog is following this developing story - someone else is trying to get some moolah out of Nintendo again for tossing their Wiimotes through their TVs.  I can’t say I’ve done it, but I guess it could happen.

From the blog:

Filed on December 2nd by Colorado resident Molly Elvig, the new class-action suit mostly picks up right where the old left off… Argued by the same lawyer… This time, Nintendo is also being accused of covering up evidence from the very Consumer Product Safety Commission with which they created the Wii Strap replacement program.

“Despite actual knowledge of hundreds of incidents involving broken televisions over time and subsequent to December 27, 2006,” reads the complaint, “Defendant failed to report the existence of even a single ‘Incident’ to the CPSC in its Monthly Reports to the CPSC.”

This doesn’t seem like a spurious accusation, either. Attached to the court filing as a matter of public record is the very evidence Nintendo allegedly tried to hide: actual, internal Nintendo documents where customer service reps received complaints of cracked televisions and broken Wiimote straps — and the corresponding Monthly Reports that Nintendo was compelled to file with the CPSC as part of their agreement…  you don’t need to be a lawyer to see that the numbers don’t add up.

More as it happens.

Did you hear about this?

The US Patent Office kind of balked at Nintendo’s request to patent the term Wii Remote back in March.  According to GamePolitics, there’s a small television remote control manufacturer in FL that makes a device called a “WeeMote,” geared towards children, and has owned the patent to “WeeMote” since 2000.  Nintendo had some discussions with this manufacturer, Forbis Technologies.  Nintendo walked away from those talks.  The suspension was sent November 26, or at least dated then.

I did not know that.  I learn something new every day.

Here’s a PDF link to the official suspension from the USPTO.

Suck less power, that is. According to a new report, video game systems waste $1 billion in energy each year. When on, the Playstation 3 consumes 150 watts and the Xbox 360 consumes 119 watts. The Nintendo Wii, though, uses under 20 watts when on. The article recommends turning off any systems when not in use, or they can consume as much as power (and your dollars) as two refrigerators each year.

Two years ago today, November 19, 2006, the Wii was released in the United States. Did you get yours on the first day?

Nintendo unveiled its MotionPlus device at E3 this year, and there are apparently some companies that aren’t too pleased that they weren’t notified in advance.  Nintendo.com has this to say about their new accessory:

Nintendo’s upcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory for the revolutionary Wii Remote controller again redefines game control, by more quickly and accurately reflecting motions in a 3-D space. The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion. Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play. The Wii MotionPlus accessory reconfirms Nintendo’s commitment to making games intuitive and accessible for everyone. Nintendo will reveal more details about the Wii MotionPlus accessory and other topics Tuesday morning at its E3 media briefing.

Okay - well, yes, that sounds cool.  The company in particluar is THQ, the producers of Wii’s de Blob, which was released on September 23.  MTV Multiplayer had this to report from Nick Hagger, the producer of de Blob:

“I think if we had the MotionPlus to start out with, maybe the control scheme would have worked out a little bit differently,” said Hagger in a phone interview late last week. “I think the temptation with having Wii MotionPlus would have been to push it more in a gestural control scheme. While it’s definitely intellectually stimulating from a development perspective to play with those ideas — and I think it does appeal to a set of gamers out there — I think the majority of people that play on the Wii want something very simple that they can just immediately get their heads around.”

We hear you, Nick.  I wonder how MotionPlus will affect future control.

The Consumerist published an article on Tuesday about the comment/ratings revolution that happened at Amazon with Spore.  At the time of WeKnowWii’s writing of this article, there were 1,876 one-star reviews of the game, mostly citing the Securom DRM Anti-Privacy measures.  Here’s a review we found interesting enough to post, fromErich Maria Remarque:

See those older 5-star reviews from 2006 (two years before the game was released)? Well, they had a reason to be excited. Spore was supposed to be a revolutionary experience, combining multiple genres while concentrating on evolution and genetics.

Fast forward two years and here we have the finished product, ready to be installed on our hard drives.

First of all, the game incorporates a draconian DRM system that requires you to activate over the internet, and limits you to a grand total of 3 activations. If you reach that limit, then you’ll have to call EA in order to add one extra activation. That’s not as simple as it sounds, since when you reach that point EA will assume that you, the paying customer, are a filthy pirating thief. You will need to provide proof of purchase, reasons why the limit was reached, etc, etc (it has all happened before with another recent EA product, Mass Effect). EA, of course, is not obligated to grant you that extra activation or even provide that service. In a couple of years they might very well even shut down the general activation servers, because “it’s not financially feasible” to keep them running. What you will be left with is a nice, colorful $50 coaster. And you will be required to pay for another copy/license if you want to continue playing.

This basically means that you are actually RENTING the game, instead of owning it. The game WILL stop to function in the future. That’s inevitable, because even if EA keeps the activation servers going, there IS going to be a time when EA will simply cease to exist because of financial issues or federal laws (like most businesses eventually do).

Second, the game was dumbed down to oblivion. Evolution doesn’t even matter anymore. For example, you can add as many legs to a creature as you want, but the multi-legged creature won’t be any faster than a single-legged one with higher leg stats. This gameplay element makes “creating” your creatures entirely pointless (cosmetic only, because everything is based on stats), and brings you about the same amount of excitement as dressing up a plastic doll.

Consumer action is power.  Let’s hope this Spore crap changes.
Also, did you know that there’s an anti-creationist website for the game?  Well hot-damn.

Peripheral company Ninty is reportedly working on a storage solution for Wii consoles.  American consumers and Wii fanatics (like yours truly) are buying lots and lots of WiiWare titles, and we need somewhere to stick them once console memory is eaten up.

“We are working on a storage solution and it is especially important in America because our consumers are using Wii Points for the Virtual Console and WiiWare,” Fils-Aime offers.

“I want the people to have the right expectations; we have never said that it will be a hard drive nor have we mentioned how we will fix this issue, but we are going to deliver a better way to store the games.”

Hmm.  Not an external storage drive, and not a zebra.  What could it be?

According to the article, game designer Shigeru Miyamotosays that Ninty isn’t planning many more peripherals with Nintendo.  I wonder what’s up with that?

In an , GameStop’s new CEO, Dan DeMatteo, says he expects the shortage of Wiis to continue through Christmas:

I’ve never seen this type of demand before. I know they’re making more, but we’re still short like everybody else. I think we’ll have a continued shortage this Christmas.

According to an article in the Belfast Telegraph, Wii is the new social hub for people:

The message is clear; a Wii is the new social hub, it coaxes gloomy teenagers out of their bedrooms and weans them off Grand Theft Auto. A Wii does not warp fragile young minds. Wii stands for wholesome, healthy family values. It’s even got brain training and fitness applications.

Read the article - short, but makes sense.

We just got an email, a PR release, about some HudsonSoft’s WiiWare releases.  Check it out:

My Aquarium Makes a Splash on WiiWare!
Offering all the fun of owning an aquarium without the high costs and
maintainence, My Aquarium allows you to create your own, one of a kind
aquarium, complete with unique fish, plant life, and other
decorations. Share your aquarium with friends through WiiConnect24™
and enjoy a soothing experience for the whole family!

DECA SPORTS: AVP Pro Volleyball
Throughout the summer, the American Volleyball Professionals league
has had DECA SPORTS on hand at all of their events. Check out the
summertime fun with AVP right here!

Thanks, HudsonSoft!
Don’t forget that you need Wii Points to buy WiiWare stuff.  Got a 2000 points Wii Points card.  It’s 20 bucks.

We’re back, and now that half of the house is unpacked, I can get back to blogging.

GTA IV is not being completely ruled out, according to Reggie Fils-Aime and a conversation he had with MTV Multiplayer, Nintendic reports. As Always, we love hearing news like this from Nintendic! (For those of you who aren’t in the know, Reggie is the President and COO for Nintendo of America.)

From Nintendic’s article:

MTV: “Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.” How’d that come about? When did that conversation begin?

Reggie Fils-Aime, President, Nintendo of America: You know, we have
had a long-term relationship with [”GTA” publisher] Take Two. We’ve had
many conversations with the folks at Rockstar. This is a project they
wanted to make. We’re thrilled to have it on the platform.

MTV: 2D? 3D? What’s it going to be like?

Fils-Aime: You know the folks at Rockstar. And so we think it’s best
for them to tell the story of what that software’s going to be. They
can certainly do a better job of bringing it to life and do a much
better job explaining the backstory than I can.

But what about that tantilising possibility of seeing GTA on the Wii?

Multiplayer: Can Nintendo system owners take this sign
of a DS “GTA” coming out as a sign that there is an increased chance or
any plans for there to be a “GTA” on the Wii?

Fils-Aime: You know, a “GTA” on the Wii is all based on what
Rockstsar and Take Two want to do. And again, from our standpoint, if
they build a bottoms-up game that takes advantage of what we do well,
I’d love to see it on the platform.

Multiplayer: But have you had any conversations with them about that?

Fils-Aime: I have not had any of those conversations.

Let’s hope that we all get some sweet GTA action for Wii. You can get GTA: Chinatown Wars for DS, you know… And go leave a comment on the current WeKnowWii contest post!

Looks like WiiDVD is on hiatus for a bit as Nintendo gets their supply problems sorted out.  Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says (in reference to Wii), “With supply constraints [of the Wii] continuing worldwide, the priority is on the current model.”  Looks like WiiDVD desirers are looking at some time in 2009 to get DVD playing capabilities.

We’re glad to see that Nintendo has its priorities in order - and it’s not unexpected with a system like the Wii selling like it is.

Thanks to Nintendic for the info.

WeKnowWii has gained a Nintendo Press Pass!  We’ll always bring you as much up-to-date information as we can, as soon as it’s available!

New today, on WiiWare, from the Nintendo Press Vault:

Magnetica™ Twist (Nintendo, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone-Comic Mischief, 1,000 Wii Points): The classic puzzle game Magnetica is now available on WiiWare , putting its own unique “twist” on the puzzle-game experience. You’re surrounded by marbles, marching slowly but surely down a track. Use a launcher (piloted by a Mii™ of your choice) to shoot marbles with matching colors and wipe them out before they reach the end of the track. Control couldn’t be simpler, as all you need to do is twist the Wii Remote™ controller to aim and press the A button to shoot. And the game play remains as addictive and deep as you’ve come to expect in Nintendo’s puzzle games, with five varied play modes, advanced mechanics such as the ability to lob marbles, and a never-ending supply of combos. This definitely isn’t your typical game of marbles.

Also new today, for the Virtual Console:

FATAL FURY 2 (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated T for Teen-Animated Blood, Violence, 900 Wii Points): Released in 1992 by SNK, FATAL FURY 2 is the second installment in the renowned fighting-game series. In addition to Terry, Andy and Joe, who appeared in the original game, another five distinctive fighters gather from around the world to compete for the championship title. Also newly added are stage-specific hazards and the ability to perform desperation attacks when a character’s strength is low. These particularly deadly techniques create the chance for a come-from-behind victory achieved with a single strike. Moreover, the innovative two-line battle, which proved popular in the previous version, also has been radically enhanced. Pressing the weak-attack and strong-attack buttons simultaneously enables players to move their fighters to another line themselves, or to launch an attack that pushes opponents back to another line. This game mechanic, unique to this title in the series, allows the player to take advantage of the depth of the screen and create even more exciting bouts. Can you prove yourself the king of fighters again?

Check them out!  Need Wii Points?  Go get some!

If you’re an Indianapolis 500 race fan at the same time as being a Wii Fit fan, you might appreciate the latest Wii venture - Indy Car Racing!  Check out Alex Lloyd in his #16 Indy Car, branded with Wii Fit branding.

There’s a full gallery at IndyCar.com.