I wanted to do a poll here and I think I may be able to guess the most given answer already (GC controller of some fashion), but hey prove me wrong! What controller do you use most when playing SSBB? Do you find the motion controls to work great or perhaps you enjoy the GC controllers more? Maybe you’re the oddball that uses the Classic controller or the Wiimote by itself. Either way, let us know how you get your Brawl on!

Been a rough past few days as the weather has played havoc on my system here in Texas leaving not only me with various cold related issues, but my Wii seems to have also started acting up. Perhaps it’s sympathy but nonetheless, it’s started to make the sound of a drill or something similar when starting up now. Like a groaning whine that is fairly inconsistent meaning it doesn’t do it constantly or all the time, but about 90% of the time. I figured it’s time to send it in before the warranty is out, no? We don’t smoke but we do have 3 cats in the house, maybe some cat hair snuck in and clogged up a motor or two. Whatever the problem, I’ll be contacting Nintendo support very soon to go through the motions of getting it fixed and I thought as a treat for those that aren’t quite sure what’s involved in getting your Wii repaired, I would video the whole experience to show how painless (or painful) the process is. I hear Nintendo is great with customer service, so I expect it to be a no issue and overall very positive video. To be clear, the system still plays perfectly and has not scratched a disk, I just don’t want this situation to go from hairy to worse after my warranty expires.

This leads us to this week’s poll where I wonder if any of you fine readers have had to have your Wii repaired. I know other console failure rates are large enough that a poll of this sort would perhaps garner a 30% rate of failure in terms of who has vs who has not had an issue, but I’m not sure I expect to see too many of you out there that have had to send their Wii in as of yet. It’s really a very stable machine that hasn’t been prone to failure. So without further ado:

Our last poll concerning the most wanted feature for the Wii had a good turnout with 180 people responding so far and most people want to get rid of the Friends Codes. DVD playback was the second most wanted feature and external storage followed right behind that.

2008 is here and Nintendo is bringing us all kinds of goodies this year with the likes of SSBB and Wii Fit, but I was wanting to gauge the interest in Wii Fit as I’m under the impression it’s going to sell like hotcakes. Are you going to be buying it straight out the first day it’s released or are you not even remotely interested in the setup? I can tell you I’m personally very interested and will be buying it first day but I’m sometimes a sucker for crazy add-on’s for consoles. Speaking of “crazy” and “consoles”, I’m suddenly reminded of a very whacked out dream I had last night where I walked into a GameStop and they were stocked to the GILLS with used Virtua Boy’s. The guy at the counter was just cleaning them up and getting them ready like nothing was going on. OK! Back to the poll, let us know what you think about Wii Fit! (NOT the Virtua Boy ;) )

Last week’s poll went really well with 942 total votes and most people owning Super Mario Galaxy and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Next in line was Metroid Prime 3, then Paper Mario and Resident Evil 4 tied for 3rd place. Some very interesting results for sure!

This week’s poll revolves around features for the Wii and what you would like to see improved or added. Vote for your most wanted feature from the list below and post in the comments why you’d like to see that one:

According to last week’s poll, most of you that own Guitar Hero III play it standing up with 47% of those polled saying they did, and 12% of those that voted saying that sat down while they rocked out. 41% of the 158 people that voted so far don’t own the game so, fair enough. I enjoy standing up while playing as I think it helps me get “into the zone” or whatever while I’m scrambling to keep up on Medium. :/

For this week’s poll, I wanted to see which games you’ve bought from the better ones released thus far. There’s quite a selection so just choose the one’s you’ve purchased and try to forgive me if I’ve left off one or two that you found enjoyable, I could only pick seven titles. These are going to be the first party hits for the most part:

I don’t expect everyone to own every game by any means, but if you do, check all of the boxes and let ‘er rip. I’m interested to see from a community standpoint which of these games you guys own the most. Maybe next time we’ll ask which games you’ve beaten. :D

Last week’s poll concerning HDTV vs SDTV went really well and after 111 votes, 65% of the people participating own an HDTV set while 35% of you play the Wii on an SDTV setup. I’m sure the games look great on SDTV’s as the Wii was designed with them in mind but I am happy more folks are moving to HDTV’s as that means perhaps Nintendo will look into upping the resolution for their next console. So long as they can keep the price point low which I know is a major factor for them.

This week’s poll is fairly niche as you would need to own Guitar Hero III to make a choice. Maybe if you don’t own it, you can imagine how you would play. :D It’s quite straightforward, when you are playing Guitar Hero III, do you stand up and rock out, or sit down and chill out?

I was sitting around today gobbling up these new Strawberry Whoppers (which are ok, but not as good as the chocolate ones in my honest opinion) and I was thinking about my new idea for a hybrid next-generation Gun/Guitar game which I’ve named “Guitar Hero Zapper 1″. Eventually, I will need to brainstorm a new name for the game that won’t get me sued to death but I do know the gameplay will involve pressing buttons on the guitar and blasting something that will appear on the screen with the Zapper.

While I was scribbling thoughts down on the back of the receipt for these Whoppers, I drew a cloud off to the side of the other brainclouds I had going on and wrote in it “New Site Ideas”. Under this heading for the cloud, I wrote down 5 new ideas for the site that I thought would go over well until I realized only 1 of them was actually a good idea and the rest were Strawberry Whopper induced bad ideas.

“Wii Poll Tuesday” was the only idea I didn’t scratch off and it’s actually going to work out great I think as I then came up with wayyy too many ideas for polls to do in one day, although I can’t wait to see what you guys answer for some of them. I figured for this first one, we’d keep it kinda simple and I really want to know the results here so vote! Feel free to also comment if you’d like, we have a good group of readers going on now that reply.

This week’s question revolves around the High Definition craze and asks if you play your Wii on a Standard Definition TeleVision (SDTV) or on a higher end High Definition TeleVision (HDTV). I myself run the Wii on an HDTV with the component cables at 480p with widescreen enabled and while things look crisper at times, I’m not so sure the Wii was ultimately made with HDTV in mind. I was wondering how many folks played their Wii’s on a SDTV vs an HDTV so without further ado:

I personally think SDTV’s would be just fine for a Wii given the thing can only do 480p anyways. The inherent ability for an SDTV to slightly blur things might also make some of the jaggies look slightly better.

Ok, we’ll be doing one of these each week on Tuesdays and I’ll be recapping last week’s polls to go over what folks answered and possibly discuss any surprises. Feel free to comment on your specs, any nuances you’ve found, or pleasant surprises.

After thinking I would get lucky yesterday and striking out trying to find a copy at our local Target and circus that is Walmart at 8:00 at night, I am now about to head out back into the big city to see if I can score. If I have to, I’ll even enter a GameStop (*shudder*) but I’m even up for trying BestBuy before having to resort to those measures. I wanted to see how many of you guys are picking up the game today, sometime soon, or never at all but more importantly those that are picking it up so we can be sure to trade friend codes. The title has this feature where you share achievements you unlock to then unlock more features in the game and I wanted to check that out. Seeing that I’m not sure if any of my real life Wii owners are picking up the game, I turn to you, Internet Buddies. How can you pass up one of the biggest titles for the Wii? Well, let us know in this poll what your plans are and sound off in the comments with your opinions or friend codes!

Three new games hit the Wii Shop today and I have to be honest, I’ve only played one of them! This Monday, we’re getting Star Soldier from the NES, Dynamite Headdy from the Genesis, and Drop Off for the TG-16. Out of those three, I’ve only played Star Soldier from the NES days and while it was fun back then, I just don’t see myself grabbing any of this weeks releases. I’m waiting for more of the kickbutt SNES and N64 games to come out at this point. Cmon Super Punch Out and Super Metroid!! Be sure to take the poll at the bottom to let us know which games you’ll be purchasing:

The Virtual Console™ is like a box of chocolates: You never know which games have the tasty caramel filling and which ones have that pink-green crème inside. Whatever your preference, we’ve got you covered with this weeks release of Star Soldier, Dynamite Headdy and Drop Off. Read on and savor the delicious centers of these classic treats.

Three new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the Wii Shop Channel every Monday. Wii™ owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

Star Soldier (NES®, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Fantasy Violence, 500 Wii Points): The standard for vertically scrolling shooters, Star Soldier is the original game that spawned all of the titles in the long-running Soldier series. Go inside a floating space station inhabited by a giant computer known as Starbrain. Your mission: to stop Starbrain’s galactic invasion by piloting Caesar, a new, compact space fighter through 16 deadly stages. Collect power capsules to increase three different attributes of your ship: firepower, movement speed and defensive shields. Blast wave after wave of approaching enemies or use the innovative Trap Zone feature to fly beneath a land mass and avoid incoming fire. Conquer each stage to make your way to the final confrontation with Starbrain.

Dynamite Headdy™ (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone - Comic Mischief, 800 Wii Points): Headdy, a toy with a detachable head, arrives in North Town to find that the evil puppet king Dark Demon is causing serious problems. Dark Demon is gathering up all the puppets in town and turning some into his own evil minions, while eliminating the rest of the puppets that aren’t good enough to join his legions. Headdy is captured and is targeted for the incinerator, but escapes in the nick of time. Now he’s got to save the town. To do so, Headdy has to take on all manner of bad guys and even has to contend with his lifelong nemesis, Trouble Bruin the bear. Can Headdy overcome all his foes and take down Dark Demon?

Drop Off (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 600 Wii Points): Brave five rounds of haunting, nightmarish dreams in this take on the classic arcade puzzler. To save his dearly beloved from the malicious demon that controls her dreams and holds her captive, our brave hero plunges himself into the nightmare to vanquish this evil foe. Deftly use the arrow items and control the angle of the ball to shatter the blocks that descend from the top of the screen. Set your sights on the joints holding the blocks together and knock off multiple blocks in one exhilarating blow. As you drop more and more blocks, their shapes will change, allowing you to earn bonus points. You must use your concentration and reflexes to defeat the demon and save your beloved.

As a bonus, here’s videos for each of the games released this week thanks to YouTube!

Here’s the press release from Nintendo discussing this week’s Virtual Console releases. It’s Ninja Week with Ninja Gaiden for the NES and Ninja Spirit from the TG-16 showing up and oh yeah there’s Pac Man as well, but he forgot his ninja outfit. Ninja Gaiden from the NES is a must have for me as I’ve loved every one of those games, especially the arcade version. Check out the press release below and be sure to take our poll at the bottom:

It’s the age-old question: Which is cooler, ninjas or circular yellow dot-eaters? This week the Wii™ video game system’s Wii Shop Channel gives gamers the chance to explore this subject in depth, with three awesome classic games.

The three new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

Pac-Man® (NES®, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points): Move Pac-Man through the maze, avoiding ghosts and eating all the Pac-Dots. Beware, each of the ghosts behave differently. When Pac-Man chomps a Power Pellet, he becomes invincible and is able to eat the blue ghosts. The more ghosts Pac-Man eats in a row, the higher the score. Don’t forget to eat the bonus fruit too. Released in 1980, Pac-Man is the most well-known video game on Earth and is also commonly acknowledged as one of the most successful coin-operated games in history. Enjoy this masterpiece of gaming history today.

Ninja Gaiden™ (NES®, 1 player, 500 Wii Points): Players take on the role of Ryu Hayabusa, a rising warrior in his family’s clan whose main role in the world is to protect the Dark Dragon Blade from falling into the hands of evil. Ryu travels to America to seek vengeance for his father’s death. Players fight their way through 14 challenging side-scrolling levels while defeating gangs of street thugs, battling evil ninjas and fighting barbarian bosses by using the deadly Dragon Sword, ninja skills and Ninpo (ninja magic). Players can run, crouch, jump and climb as they make their way through each stage and collect items to gain points, strength and weapons.

Ninja Spirit (TurboGrafx16, 1-2 players, 600 Wii Points): Ninja Spirit is a side-scrolling action game that amazed the gaming world with its precision graphics and quality game play. Play as the ninja Moonlight and engage in a fierce battle to avenge his father’s death and unlock the secrets of his birth. Select between the original ARCADE MODE and PC-ENGINE MODE, which includes a life gauge. Use four types of weapons: katana, shuriken, bombs and chain and sickles to battle your way through the enemies. Pick up power-up items and switch between weapons to give you the advantage. You’ll need to consider the enemy attacks and your weapon’s abilities in order to deftly make it through all seven stages. Use your skills and attacks to get through the game’s boundless enemies and traps. That’s what ninja action is all about.

And here’s Nintendo’s official press release concerning todays Virtual Console releases:

Today Nintendo adds three new classic games to the popular Wii™ video game system’s Wii Shop Channel. The games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

Excitebike™ (NES®, 1 player, 500 Wii Points): Face crazy curves, hairpin turns, and daredevil jumps as you race toward the checkered flag and the Excitebike championship. Race against the clock or challenge an opponent. You must keep your bearings as you fly through the air and avoid getting clipped by other racers. Stay cool under pressure or your bike will overheat. If you get tired of racing on the circuit, create your own course in Design Mode. There you have access to all the ramps, mounds, bridges, and other obstacles Excitebike has to offer.

Beyond Oasis™ (Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): You are Prince Ali, who has discovered a buried gold armlet. This armlet once belonged to a wizard who waged a long war against the evil wielder of a silver armlet. The silver armlet was used to create chaos and destruction, while the gold armlet had the power to summon four spirits: the water spirit “Dytto,” the fire spirit “Efreet,” the shadow spirit “Shade,” and the plant spirit “Bow.” To stop the person who first discovered the ancient silver armlet and is again using it for evil, Prince Ali travels the land of Oasis, gradually acquiring the ability to summon the four spirits. Use your wits and speed to claim the silver armlet!

SPLATTERHOUSE™ (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points): Rick and Jennifer, both parapsychology students at the local university, are visiting West Mansion, site of the research lab where the famed Dr. West conducted some of his most gruesome experiments. A sudden storm forces them to find shelter inside the mansion. Once inside, they are attacked by monsters. Jennifer is kidnapped and Rick is knocked unconscious. Hours later, Rick awakes to find himself covered in blood, with the Terror Mask stuck to his face. His only hope is to depend on the ancient powers of the mask to give him the strength and courage to find Jennifer. Now Rick’s fight has begun! Splatter your way through 7 stages of side-scrolling horror action. Armed with cleavers and shotguns, Rick must fight his way through the monsters of West Mansion and defeat the bosses at the end of every stage. The creepy music, gruesome monsters, gory action and shocking events leading up to the finale will keep you on the edge of your seat!

Which games will you be purchasing from this release?

Some very cool games released this week for the Virtual Console, the time we get Sonic Spinball from the Genesis, Double Dungeons from the TG-16, and Tecmo Bowl from the NES days! Rock on! Here’s the Nintendo Press release:

Today Nintendo adds three new classic games to the popular Wii™ video game system’s Wii Shop Channel. The games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

Tecmo Bowl™ (NES®, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points): Tecmo Bowl pits the player versus the computer in 11-game, single-elimination playoff action. Players also can go head-to-head with a human opponent in action or coach mode. The player can select from 12 teams. On offense there are usually two run and two pass plays to choose from. The player takes control of the quarterback before the snap and then either hands off to the running back or works through his receiver progression from the top to the bottom of the screen. Defense consists of trying to guess which offensive play the opponent will select and then taking control of one of the defensive players before the snap. A very simple power-meter system is used for kicking field goals, extra points and punts.

Sonic Spinball™ (Sega Genesis, 1-4 players, 800 Wii Points): Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik) has taken over Mt. Mobius and turned it into a mechanical base. He is using energy from the magma flowing under the volcano to power his Veg-O-Fortress. He has the power to transform helpless animals into robots. Sonic the Hedgehog must take down this fortress to free the enslaved animals. The only way to make that happen is to trigger an eruption in the volcano it’s built on. Sonic knows this can be done by removing the Chaos Emeralds that keep the volcano stable. Dr. Eggman, however, is also aware of the fragile relationship that exists between the emeralds and the mountain, and he’s set up an elaborate Pinball Defense System to make sure the precious jewels don’t go anywhere.

Double Dungeons (TurboGrafx16, 1-2 players, 600 Wii Points): Double Dungeons is a dungeon role-playing game that features smooth-scrolling 3-D game play. Two players can play at the same time, which makes this game truly stand out from the rest. There are 22 unique scenarios, spread out among six levels. The higher the level is, the harder the scenario. Because each scenario is independent, players can choose to start the game from any scenario other than the final one. Players defeat monsters in each dungeon to gain experience while searching for the “key” that opens the door to the room with the boss. They buy equipment at the shop, team up with characters and defeat the boss to clear a scenario. Players must conquer all 21 scenarios from levels 1 through 5 to obtain passwords. If they obtain all of them, they make their way to the final scenario!

Take our poll below to share with others which games you intend on purchasing this week:

Here’s this weeks Virtual Console releases, straight from the press release’s mouth!

Today Nintendo adds three new classic games to the popular Wii™ video game system’s Wii Shop Channel. The games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points™ to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

Elevator Action (NES®, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points): This is a multidirectional, scroll-type spy-action game that is a blast from the past. Control a spy and sneak alone into a building to steal the secret papers hidden there. Use a pistol, kicks, an elevator and even the lights to take out the building’s guards. The gun-fighting action is full of thrills. Players will need speed and timing to get on the elevators, move between floors, steal the secret papers and escape from the basement parking lot.

Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts™ (Super NES®, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): The third game in the legendary Ghosts ‘n Goblins series of video games, Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts follows Arthur in another quest to rescue the princess, his fair maiden and damsel in distress at large. Players take control of Arthur and defeat the creatures of the night to save the day once more. Discover what glory awaits those brave enough to take on the armies of Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts.

Sword of Vermilion™ (Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): Sword of Vermilion is about the role of Erik’s son, who takes on a quest of revenge to defeat Tsarkon and free the world of Vermilion from evil. In the town of Excalabria, the people went about their business and tended to the fields. One day, vicious fighting broke out everywhere as the army of Cartahena, led by the wizard-king Tsarkon, swarmed all over the town. The townsmen were overwhelmed. The castle of King Erik V collapsed. Erik summoned his bravest, strongest and most faithful warrior, Blade, and gave him his infant son and an ancient family heirloom, the ring of wisdom. He ordered Blade to save himself and the child while the castle burned. Blade traveled to a small village named Wyclif, where he settled down and raised the child as his own son. Eighteen years later, the son of Erik begins his quest. Save the world of Vermilion and fulfill the prophecy of the Malaga fortune-tellers!