Here’s a list of 25 titles that are yet to come and are exclusive to the Wii thanks to NintendoFanAlliance.com:

1. Fatal Frame: Mask: Of The Lunar Eclipse
2. Rune Factory
3. Disaster: Day Of Crisis
4. Tales Of Symphonia Dawn Of The New World
5. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicels: The Crystal Bearers
6. Castlevania Judgment
7. Tenchu 4
8. Harvest Moon: Tree Of Tranquility
9. Deadly Creatures
10. Fragile
11. Animal Crossing Wii
12. Little King’s Story
13. Dokapon Kingdom
14. My Sims Kingdom
15. Sam & Max: Season 1
16. Sky Crawlers
17. Mario Super Sluggers
18. De Blob
19. Samba De Amigo
20. Mushroom Men
21. Shiren The Wanderer 3
22. Wario Land The Shake Dimension
23. SimCity Creator
24. Rygar The Battle Of Argus
25. Wii Love Golf

Cmoooon Animal Crossing!!

I actually made this quiz quite a while ago, but it’s still fairly relevant now with the VC and all going on. Basically, you look at the screenshots and decide if the game belongs to the Super Nintendo console or the Sega Genesis. Click this link or the pic below to get started!

For extra fun, post your scores in the comments!

Doug Lombardi from Valve Software had some nice things to say about the Nintendo Wii in this article at computerandvideogames.com and even hints to the possibility of Valve working on a kids Wii game in the future. No official announcements of course.

“There’s a lot of people at Valve who are parents and would love to make a game for kids,” Valve’s Doug Lombardi told us recently.

“We all play the Wii a lot and we think that the proper way for Valve to approach the Wii would be to make something cool designed specifically for it.” he added, when quizzed on the possibility of Valve venturing away from its usual FPS scene.

“I mean, I’m not making any announcements”, he continued, “but there’s a lot of desire internally to do something for kids, do something on the Wii.”

Nothing too promising here, he’s essentially saying some of the guys want to entertain making a kids game and if they did, it would be on the Wii. It would be interesting to see Valve branch out from the FPS genre and see what they could pull off.

Update: Bumped to give more folks a chance to trade codes.

Just picked up Mario Kart for the Wii here in little ole’ Denton, Texas and I have a couple of quick impressions and a friend code to share so we can get our multiplayer action on.

Overall, very nice, Nintendo presentation that is to be expected and the Wheel that it comes with is solid. More solid than some third party controllers I’ve seen and about on par with the Zapper as far as design and durability go. I only played through one game on 50cc so far but what I’ve played was very smooth, fun, and everything I’ve expected out of a Mario Kart game. I’m just as giddy as the day I played my Nintendo DS version of MK and more satisfied than I was with the GC version of the game already. The Wheel controller works surprisingly well, like so good that I will be using as my main form of controlling the game. It just works, there is no learning curve or feeling of handicap you get from using it. I got first in every race on 50cc using it my first time trying and I know the game will get tougher (and cheaper), but again I was just surprised as to how well the Wheel actually worked. Graphics, sound, and presentation all top notch, no disappointments yet! Well, besides the lack of co-op Grand Prix action. I can’t wait to play some of you online!

Ok, let’s share those friends codes!

Here is my friend code, please respond in the comments if you add me and I will do the same: 4983-5333-7127

The wife and I have been playing a bit of Mario Kart for the Wii since it came out, both online and off, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it so far. We’ve only completed the 50cc races, but we’ve played much of the 100cc and 150cc races and have competed against other players’ ghosts for the best times. Here is our list of things we love about the game after spending many hours playing it in no particular order:

1) The New Boost Methods - In the past, getting a boost while drifting around corners could be tough for new comers while allowing the “pros” to extend their leads even further. In Mario Kart Wii, getting your boost on requires nothing more than being able to drift around for a period of time. Drift around for a little bit, get the blue minor boost. Stick that drift for just a bit longer and get the better orange boost. It’s so easy to pull off on Mario Kart Wii yet still requires mastery of the drift, which is a technique any Mario Kart player will need to learn in order to compete on any level any how.

The other method for getting a good boost is to do a trick immediately after coming off of a ramp. From big turbo ramps to the smaller jumps you just happen to catch air on, once you’re in the air you can pull off a stunt by shaking the Wii Remote and when you land you get a good boost of speed for showing off. These boosts certainly come in handy when you’re trying to compete for the best times in Ghost races or just in general. If you can pull off the boosts at the 50cc level, you’re going to sit pretty in every race. Once you get to the big time 150cc, boosting is almost necessary to remain at the top unless you depend on item tactics.

2) 2p Online Play - The lack of 2p Grand Prix mode is sorely missed, but it’s somewhat made up for by the inclusion of 2p online gaming. The wife and I can hop online and race other players around the world split screen and it’s nothing but a blast. First or last, it’s always a fun time with folks online and even better when you share the experience with someone right there with you. Who could have imagined back in 1992 while we were playing SNES Mario Kart that one day we would be playing online against our friends with other friends or loved ones right there with us? So it’s only taken 16 years for this to happen, but trust me, the 2p online stuff is well worth the wait. Also to note, we’ve had nothing but great, lag free games while playing online which is a breath of fresh air compared to our SSBB woes. Fun times!

3) Ghost Races - Ghost racing in Mario Kart has been around for a while and this was actually a feature in the DS version of Mario Kart that we’re glad made it over to the Wii version. When you race a Time Trial race, your best time is not only recorded, but a “ghost” of you racing around on the track is recorded along with it. If you want to try to get a better time on that track than your previous effort, your best timed ghost will be loaded and you will see him as you race along. He is a ghost meaning you drive right through him and there are no items in the race you will need to get to take him down. It’s really you against the clock.

Where this gets really cool is when you go online and search for Ghost Races to compete in. You simply choose the ghost race option from the menu and the Nintendo online stuff works its magic to find you a ghost to race against. It could be a player from Japan that played the track and got a good time on it or even an employee of Nintendo if you do well enough. You can also see your friends’ best times and race their ghosts on the tracks. Once you get a great time on a track, you can then send your friend a ghost race request and they will get a notification saying you have challenged them. This works out great in situations where I want to challenge my friends to a race but for whatever reasons our schedules just don’t match up and allow for live online racing 100% of the time. As I mentioned before, ghosts are nothing new to the Mario Kart franchise, but the way they are implemented in the Wii version is perfection.

4) Limited Blue Shells - There is nothing like the frustration of being in 1st place in any Mario Kart game only to be taken out by the all powerful blue shell. Once launched by a racer, it seeks out first place and drops down on them with a big explosion that can also take out any other nearby opponents. As a side note, that can actually be used to your advantage if you know a blue shell is coming to just slow down and try to take out as many people as you can with it via proximity blast. In past MK iterations, the blue shell usage would sometimes get a bit obnoxious during a race adding nothing but frustration to the races it seemed. It’s one thing to keep things even and fun for everyone and and then there’s the frustration that is getting hit by the 4th blue shell during the race after you’ve fought and maintained first for so long.

In the Wii version of Mario Kart, there are so many other ways of gaining that 1st place via other item usage or pure skill racing with boosting opportunities that it doesn’t need to dole out 5 blue shells per race. You may run across one or two per race it seems, three is pushing it but overall I’ve never felt overwhelmed by blue shell usage as I have in past MK games. A minor thing to be happy about perhaps, but it really does improve the overall flow of the races.

5) The Maps - Nintendo really pulled out all of the stops when coming up with the maps for this version of Mario Kart. There’s a little bit of everything in there from the past games and even some new tracks that really shine. If you’ve played the SNES, GBA, N64, DS, or GC version of the games, you’ll recognize all of the favorites you’ve come to love. Moo Moo Farm, Bowsers Castle(s), Mario Circuit, Peach Beach and more favorites are packed in here. It’s alot of fun playing some of the classic maps interspersed with the newly created maps, especially against some of the same friends I had back in 1992. It definitely brings back memories and the new features and items add a bit of freshness to the old tracks.

6) Control Options - I happen to love the Wii Wheel that the game comes with and while I may not be alone there, some folks would rather play with more traditional controls and Nintendo has done well in this aspect. Instead of forcing the motion controls down your throats, they give you the option of playing with the Classic controller or even the GC controller for that good old thumbstick action. This works out really well for us as the wife just can’t come to grips with the wheel but she’s mastering the game with the GC controller, that’s for sure.

There’s plenty more to love about Mario Kart for the Wii and in no way is the game flawless. It does have it’s issues and things that you might wished had been done better, but there is no doubt the game is a top notch title for the Wii; a must own if you will. It’s great qualities definitely outweigh the detriments and the fact it’s got online play that works with little to no lag is just the icing on the cake. If you have anything you particularly enjoy about the game or perhaps you have things you just detest and need to find out if you’re all alone in that thinking, either way, post about it in our comments here and thanks for reading!

I wanted to get this Super Smash Bros Brawl party started here at Wii Living although I myself have not picked up the game just yet (doing that later today) nor do I have my Wii back but I know there’s plenty of you out there that have. Let’s use this post as the post to share each others’ friends codes! I’ll keep bumping this up and when I do get my copy in, I’ll update it with mine. Keep in mind I am still waiting for my Wii to get back from repairs, but as soon as it does, IT’S ON, YOU JIGGLYPUFF PLAYING MANIACS! I’ve read a few reviews and impressions on the game and absolutely cannot wait to play the game even if for nothing else but the Subspace Emissary stuff.

So, who out there has picked up SSBB? If you have, comment to this post with your friends code and get to sharing and smashing each other!

Update: Bumped.. For your pleasure! And a side note, I apologize if it takes a while for your comment to show, I promise it will but I sort through about 100 spam comments per day to find the needles in the virtual haystack. Thank you all again and keep sharing those codes! Also post any experiences you have with the online please. My Wii is already on it’s way back from repair and should be here soon so I can get to playing with you guys. Nothing sucks more than sitting here with a copy of the game and no Wii. :/

Update 2: Another bump. Seems folks are still adding each other in the comments here so let’s keep it going.

Have you played Portal on the PC or consoles yet? If not, you’re missing out on a very fun puzzle game with some shooter elements inside. It’s one big mental trip of a game where you play a lab rat tasked to continuously run through an obstacle course of sorts while a mysterious AI overlord watches on and ensures your “safety”. Annnnyyywayyyss.. There’s these turrets in Portal that have these cute and cuddly computerized voices that sound eerily similar to the Wii Fit Balance board voice. Or vice-versa maybe.. Take a listen to the samples below and decide for yourself:

Aperture Science turret

Wii Fit Balance Board

I think it’s very close but then again how many times can you do a computerized, friendly female voice and not have it sound similar? Thanks to Joystiq for the detective work.

I love used car salesman and their wacky commercials and off the wall gimmicks they will sometimes employ to get people to come in and possibly buy a car. The guy in the gorilla suit jumping around, or the whole “If we can’t be the other guys prices, we’re gonna GIVE THE CAR TO YA!” and now thanks to Wii Sports, $100 cash back for every homerun you make in homerun derby. You can save up to $1000 if you hit 10 of them! Too funny, guys.

Just got in the latest edition of Nintendo Power and it’s chock full of goodness covering Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, Wii Fit, Boom Blox, and the upcoming (to NA and other territories) Wii Ware channel. They also review Mario Kart for the Wii and other titles, so let’s see how they fared:

Mario Kart Wii - 9.0
Battle of the Bands - 7.0
Okami - 7.5 (This was a surprise to me.. I had thought it would score in the 8.5-9.0 range based on it’s past performance, but dun dun dunnnn.. they cite controls as the negative factor here.)
Summer Sports: Paradise Island - 3.5
Minicopter: Adventure Flight - 6.5
Castle of Shikigami III - 7.0

And that’s it for this month, not too many surprises although like I said I was surprised by the Okami score. How they flubbed the controls on that game is beyond me as it seems like a perfect match for the Wii. I’ll have to wait and see what I think when I get the game I suppose. Hey.. That reminds me of a poll I wanted to start, keep an eye out for it if you play SSBB.

Pardon the strong language in the title, but what is your experience with SSBB online? So far mines been horrific, along the lines of this video I found at YouTube:

Frankly, the online play for me is atrocious to the point it’s unplayable and near headache inducing. I tried about 5 games and they all suffered the same fate - bad, bad, bad, bad, super bad lag that was pretty embarrassing to see for such a top tier game. Nintendo already catches flak for their online service and this is just even more fuel for that firestorm. Are your games laggy as all get out as well? I know it’s not our connection as we’ve played plenty of other titles online just fine and have a very fast connection to the ‘net.

Until this gets resolved, there’s really no reason to waste much time trying to play online, but I will be honing my skills in single player so when it’s all sorted out I can drop some damage on fools. Let me know your experiences in the comments here please and let’s see who else is experiencing this.

Japan is getting their grubby hands on the WiiWare system on the Wii right now and NintendoWiiFanboy.com has a nice round-up at that link back there discussing some impressions and other very interesting tidbits I’ll touch on below:

My Life as a King is one of the games on WiiWare I am looking forward to. Coming from Square Enix, this RPG/town building sim has a rather unique approach at handling extra content, especially for the Wii. Extra content in My Life as a King explained by SiliconEra.com talks about what will be available for purchase and how much items and features may cost.

If you want to recruit Yukes, Lilties or Selkies you have to pony up extra dough to construct a building for them.

…

Square Enix has not announced final pricing for each item, but downloadable content falls between 100 – 300 Wii Points ($1 - $3) a piece.

Here’s the trailer they released showing off the game just before launch:

NintendoWiiFanboy also links some impressions of Star Soldier R:

Star Soldier R isn’t a traditional entry in the series. Rather, it’s a smallish game based around racking up high scores in small periods of time. In the two-minute mode, you’ll play through one brief stage and try to shoot down as many enemies and collect as many items as you can for a big score. The five-minute mode is similar, but features two levels with two boss encounters at the end of each.

Here’s a video of Star Soldier R from the WiiWare platform:

They also linked these Saku Saku Animal Panic impressions:

Epicenter Studios has crafted this heartwarming tale of a farmer whose animals seem to continually manage to break free of their pens. Isn’t that always the way? You’ve got to quickly construct new fences and make sure that animals are only fenced in with their own kind.

Go check out the rest on Nintendo Wii Fanboy, they have alot of other cool stuff linked as well concerning the launch of WiiWare in Japan. Here’s what it’s like to go through the WiiWare shop.

Nintendo seems to be on a lucky streak of sticking it to me lately, with the first strike against me being my Wii needing repairs and more recently scoring another point thanks to my copy of SSBB not working on my friends’ Wii. I had SSBB preordered at GameStop and figured I might as well pick it up the day it launched as I was in town anyways. The kicker being I had just sent my Wii off for repairs and had nothing to play the game on. Yesterday, we went to visit some friends, excited about the possibility of finally getting to check out the game.

Truth be told, I haven’t spoiled too much for myself as I didn’t really pay much attention to the pre-release hype. I posted a few news bits about videos and SSBB blog updates, but I didn’t really get too far into said videos nor did I continue to follow the blog for very long. And not out of disinterest, I could just tell the game was going to be awesome and wanted to not spoil as much as possible.

So here we are, at my friends house all excited about finally getting to check out the game and getting to go through everything that’s under the hood. We’d play some co-op Subspace Emissary, maybe unlock a few new characters, build a custom level, check out online, all kindsa crazy stuff we had envisioned. We joked around about how “Oh watch it not work, didn’t you hear about certain Wii’s not being able to play them?” which in hindsight, we probably should not have joked about because the truth of the matter is not only did the game not play, the Wii wouldn’t even see the disk.

>:(

We tried the Wii standing right side up, on it’s belly sideways, at a 45 degree angle, turning it on with another game in and then switching them, unplugging the power, we even took it old school NES style and blew into the slot at one point. Ok not really, but it was an option. We knew in the back of our heads the Wii wasn’t going to play the game, but we were desperate and tried everything we could think of. The game simply wouldn’t be recognized by the Wii so we played a few rounds of Guitar Hero 3 instead and still had fun.

On the way home I figured if anything good can come out of this, it’s going to be the amount of excitement that has built up inside me over the game and how cool it will be to finally play it. Nintendo is just teasing me.. I got home and noticed a note on the door from UPS stating I had a package in the office of the apartments here. I wonder what that could be?

No, I’m not trying to make some kind of joke about my private parts needing to be fixed, I’m talking about the fact I sent my Wii off for repair today and as I waved goodbye to it in the box FedEx supplied for me, I shed a tiny tear. Mainly because I knew I wouldn’t be getting it back before SSBB hits, which is my own dumb fault. It’s not that the Wii was scratching my games or not playing them or showing red rings or anything of that nature, it’s just been making an awful grinding sound akin to a power drill being turned on inside the unit. The noise started about 2 months ago and I am just now getting around to fixing it.

For those interested, the process for sending in your Nintendo Wii for repair is super, super painless. I called up the Nintendo support line, explained the situation to the guy on the other end (who was very professional and courteous) and told him that although it’s not a showstopping issue with the Wii, it is something I wanted to get fixed before my warranty ran out. Guess what! My warranty had just ran out last week.. The great news is without hesitation, the Nintendo rep told me they would still cover it. SUCH great service, especially seeing the unit was still playing games just fine and operating normally besides the fact it sounded like a tiny chainsaw. I was very excited to hear that they would be fixing it to say the least.

The next thing the rep told me was he would be emailing me a link to print out a FedEx label to ship the unit back, simply box it up, slap that label on it, and drop it off at FedEx. So that’s what we did today. And now I’m sad. No Wii and no SSBB for me until I get the unit back. I don’t foresee it taking a very long time to get it back, but I will be staring at my copy of SSBB intently, reading and smelling the manual as I await my precious’ return.

I’ll wrap this up with another small writeup when I get the unit back letting you know how long the turnaround is just in case the very off chance happens that you need to send yours in. Handle it with delicate hands, FedEx!