The guys over at the N+ Blog have posted their impressions of the first round of games that support the Wii Zapper and give some great insight into how they preform and stack up against each other. While I find Link’s Crossbow Training to be fun enough, I can’t wait to try out the Zapper on RE:UC or Ghost Squad, especially after reading this report.

Crispin Boyer from 1up has a new blog entry that points out a subtle, almost undetected difference in the Devil’s Crush pinball game from the TG-16 and now on the Virtual Console. The difference being the original had pentagram graphics on the table and the revamped version for the VC does not. Nintendo-ized, perhaps!

Here’s a couple of videos he used to show off the differences:

It wouldn’t surprise me to find out Nintendo was behind the removing of the pentagrams. Did anyone else happen to pick up on this change between the versions?

Very busy day today with various things, but tonight was a blast, almost literally if the Zapper had been called the Blaster. We had some family over and enjoyed some slow cooked spaghetti and then we broke out the Wii for some party action. I first let one of my cousin’s check out Super Mario Galaxy and while they thought the gameplay, graphics, and sound were absolutely awesome, they all agreed it was crazy in the sense you learn to move around in various orientations, walking upside down and such. After about 4 stars being collected, we then moved on to play Link’s Crossbow Challenge in multiplayer mode where it allows up to 4 people to play in rotation using one Zapper and we had a ton of fun for about 3 hours straight! I find the game fun enough in single player mode, but I never knew it could be so fun in multiplayer mode. We were all trying to keep our accuracy up to see how high we could grow our multipliers and trying different tactics on various levels with the way you can charge up the arrows to make them explosive. We even took out the final boss in the game after a few tries which was exciting. It wasn’t a group of hardcore gamers by any means, but we all definitely had a great time. I don’t mean for this to come off as a plug or a shill post or anything, just a nod in the direction of the Zapper/Link’s Crossbow package as another game along with Wii Sports that a group of four can have fun with so keep it in mind!

Anyone else got any stories like this of get together’s where you all had fun playing the Wii for hours on end? What game(s) did you all enjoy playing? Share your stories in the comments!

This is very cool and something I would like to give a try, with the pattern provided at this link here, you can make your own papercraft Thwomp taken from the Super Mario line of games. With the instructions provided, it seems like it would be easy enough, who else wants to make one? We could have a team of Thwomps!

These guys have some talent when it comes to making cakes! Check out this great (and delicious) looking Boo cake on this Flickr set. It was apparently made for a friend of theirs for their birthday but I’d be happy to get one of these for any occasion! Don’t you just want to grab that tongue?

GoNintendo has a post up of a custom Wii cabinet a reader and his dad built which looks really cool and is even made to look like a large Wii Remote. The craftsmanship looks great and it fits nicely beside their flatscreen TV.

More shots of the cabinet can be seen here at GoNintendo.

For those of you that are looking for a more pistol-esque lightgun peripheral for the Wii, Nyko has jumped into the game with the Perfect Shot which looks great considering it’s only $13 at Amazon. Here’s a list of features and a shot of the lightgun:

* Traditional one handed pistol-like grip. Tactile trigger activates the “B” button
* Aiming sight increases accuracy
* Wii Remote easily slides into grip and locks into place
* Accessory pass-through port for other attachments like the Nunchuk and Classic Controller
* One hand remains free to operate the Nunchuk or other attachments simultaneously

Pretty cool looking if you’re not into the tommygun style of the official Zapper.

This is kinda cool, I’m not quite sure if I’d rather use this or purchase another game. It sure does look cool though and really shows off the Wii system. TheWiiCast.com has a post up showing off their recently acquired Official Nintendo Wii Tower Gaming Station. They say they found it at Wal-Mart for about $70, I just couldn’t find anything else online about it and Wal-Mart’s website didn’t have any info on it either.

Here’s a quote from their page and a few pics below it:

While shopping at Walmart yesterday i ran across the officially licenced Wii Tower Game Station. This thing is really cool. It’s shiny, has the Wii logo on it and holds 18 games, 4 remotes or nunchucks, the Wii console and more. I picked it up for $69.99. It’s sleek and stylish. A perfect addition to any Wii fans living/game room.

Click here for more pics of the setup.

On November 19, 2006, the Nintendo Wii was launched in the United States and shortly after that, it was released to the rest of the world. Here we are 1 year later and the system has sold over 14 million units making for a fantastic start and a great first year for the console. The system is still sold out just about everywhere and is said to continue to sell out all through Christmas. A search on eBay has plenty of them (over 9000) listed for sale at a premium and unless you’re keen to standing in line this holiday season hoping to get one, you may have a very tough time finding one if you haven’t already.

If you do have a Wii, we would like to hear your story of how you attained yours and when. Did you get it at launch? Maybe you had to stand in line and wait or buy it from someone off Craigslist. What do you think of this first year for the Nintendo Wii lineup and hardware wise?

I remember when we got our Wii, it was right around launch and while I wanted one at launch, I wasn’t too up on waiting outside the local WalMart for over 12 hours to get one as we just had our baby boy who was a month old at this time. I waited a few days after the official launch and found out GameStop would be getting in a few systems at both of the two stores local to us. One of them is inside a mall and one of them outside. The outside one is more popular as it’s more visible and as we drove by, I noticed a line of about 20-30 people waiting. “Uggghh”, I said as we continued on to the mall location. We walked into the mall at 8:30 and made our way to the GameStop where we found a line of about 3 people. “!!!”, we were so excited to be #4 or 5 in line as this surely meant we would get one. We thought the store opened at 9:00 as the employees were starting to roll in, but in fact it didn’t open until 10 and they were sticking to that. More people started filling out the line behind us and an employee came out to tell us they had 6 systems in and that was it. Some people left, others were hopeful our credit cards wouldn’t work I suppose and hung around. At 10, they opened up, we slowly made our way in and sure enough, picked up our Wii system with huge smiles on our faces! We picked up an extra nunchuk and remote and drove back home to get it on with some Wii Sports.

Overall I would say the first year has been fantastic with a very strong launch system that has had very few hardware issues that weren’t resolved very quickly in the customer’s favor. Software wise, we’ve got Wii Sports of course which shows off how much fun you can have with even the most simple of games, Zelda: Twilight Princess (which I still have yet to finish), Paper Mario, Mario Strikers with online play, Wario Ware, ExciteTruck, Metroid Prime 3 which appeals to the gamer looking for a more complex FPS style game, and only the best game in the world: Super Mario Galaxy. The Wii Zapper also just came out which is going to bring even more fun to the table at a very affordable price point with plenty of rail shooters already out and just around the corner.

This holiday season should be very exciting for the Nintendo Wii and I predict sales to be very high, much higher than the other consoles which I am sure will do well also. So yeah, make a comment and let us know when you got your Wii and the story behind it. Do you have any crazy TV breaking stories to share (remember all that hubbub)? Surprised by any non-gamer friends or family that enjoyed the system more than you thought they would? Speak up and congrats once again to Nintendo and the Wii!

This post is going to cover a few things, namely how you all are enjoying Super Mario Galaxy. If you don’t have the game yet, GO GET IT. It’s as good as all of the reviews are making it out to be and then some. Well, besides this crappy Variety review where Ben Fritz has his head too far up Sony’s butt to enjoy it apparently. Don’t get me wrong, I own and enjoy a PS3 and Ratchet and Clank but can enjoy the greatness that is Mario Galaxy without having to make comparisons to what is also a great game, Ratchet and Clank. Anyhow, back to Mario, if you are wanting the game and can’t seem to find it, order it online if you have to. It’s seriously reason enough to buy a Nintendo Wii and fully makes up for the bump in the road of Mario games that was Sunshine. While Sunshine was fun at times, it definitely had it’s faults that didn’t quite meet up to the standards set my Mario 64. If I had to rate my favorite Mario games ever across all Nintendo systems, I would have to go with:

1) Mario Galaxy (yes, it’s that good.)

2) Mario World *
3) Super Mario 3 *
4) Mario 64 *

5) New Super Mario Bros
6) Super Mario 2
7) Super Mario Bros
8) Mario Sunshine
9) Mario Bros (the original in the sewers)

The * means these 3 are actually interchangeable and are about as good as each other. Mario Galaxy just takes the platforming fun that made the past Mario’s so great and mixes it all together into one fantastic game. It’s also one of the (if not the) best looking Nintendo Wii to date with it’s lighting effects, brilliant color schemes, and texture work. But enough about what I think of the game, what do *you* guys think about it so far? Agree with me, disagree, kinda agree, love it, hate it, whatever you opinion, leave a comment here on this post and sound off with what you think.

I also wanted to talk a bit about how far you are in the game and what you’ve found to be neato so far.

*Spoilers Ahead*
I’m just past collecting my 10th star and have to say so far I’ve seen so much variety, I am already blown away. The first boss in the lava was fun I thought in that way it makes you volley the coconuts back to him tennis style. I also enjoyed the ray surfing bit and found Sweet Sweet Galaxy to be a bit tough but just the right amount of difficulty to remind you that they can make the game play rough if you want it that way. In most of the other levels I’ve played, I found them to be fairly easy and very forgiving, offering you lots of free men which equate to what are essentially free runs so long as you keep collecting those 1up’s. The different ways to take out bad guys is cool, especially the ability to fire the shards at them. The way the game messes with gravity if sometimes disorienting but a great addition given the fact you are in space after all and some puzzles take advantage of this feature nicely. I’m sure I’m just barely scratching the surface of the greatness to come in the game but if you can’t tell, I already love the game.

Where are you guys and what have you found to be fun or otherwise awesome in the game? Anything blow your mind or make your go “Whoa!”?

I think the Nintendo Wii system has had a great first year as we near that anniversary mark and Mario Galaxy combined with Zelda, Metroid, Paper Mario, Wario Ware, and Resident Evil 4 add up to some outstanding titles. I’m still reading certain gamers claiming the system doesn’t have anything to play on it, which is an empty statement when you’ve played these titles and seen how enjoyable they are. Comments? Thoughts?

In case you’re curious as to what the packaging will look like for the Zapper peripheral and the included Link’s Crossbow Training, this guy’s Flickr page has a few shots. I’ve taken a couple of shots and posted them below, click the link for the whole set.

GameStop has the setup listed as shipping on November the 19th at a price of $25. I’ll be grabbing it for sure as I know I’ll use the Zapper for a few of the upcoming on-rails games and Link’s game looks like it should be fun times. May pick up another copy for the wife as well to join in on the fun for 2 player games.

And I took a pic to prove it! I also got a pretty cool commemorative launch coin since I reserved the game from GameStop. Don’t be jealous though, I hear there’s a few more copies left so you can still pick up yours at any major retailer today! Let me know if you get it and what you think in the comments here.

The NeoGAF forums has a post up where they are discussing the Check Mii Out channel and they’ve taken some shots of some of the better Mii’s they’ve found and made a couple of posts showing them off. I grabbed a few of them and posted them below, but there’s tons more you would probably enjoy seeing there at the link.

I’ve seen the Robocop and the penguin face guy but I couldn’t tell what was going on with the penguin one until I saw it posted there. Great stuff. I submitted my entry for the hatless Mario last night for the contest, have you guys and gals?