It seems the more I learn about the Wii U, the more questions I have regarding Nintendo’s bizarre handling of their new console’s announcement.

According to WatchPlayRead.com by way of CVG, Nintendo will not be releasing their iPad-ish controller separately. It will only be available bundled with the Wii U. According to an un-named Nintendo rep, the Wii U was developed around a “one tablet philosophy.”

This brings on a whole slew of new questions in my mind. First, if I’m only getting one tablet with the Wii U, how am I going to play couch co-op or vs play with any game that has a more complex control scheme? Will the WiiPad (thats what I’m calling it) allow you to tether a more traditional controller solution to it? Would the pad act as a “wireless hub” allowing you to connect multiple controllers to it? There must be some unrevealed controller for the Wii U that will allow you to play more complex games. I don’t see anyone playing the next Mass Effect or Dead Space on a Wiimote. In my mind thats the only solution that makes any sense.

From another angle: How are consumers going to get replacements for the WiiPad should they become damaged, if there is no sku for the controller to be sold by itself? Will I have to box up the whole damn thing and send it back? What about my game saves and DLC? If its tied to the system as it is to the Wii, I’ll have to start everything over. Since Nintendo didn’t announce any details at all about the console, this just adds a whole new layer of questions.

I’ve owned every console Nintendo put out (with the exception of the portables and the Virtual Boy), and I’m hoping that once all the smoke clears I’ll be hyped to drop my pre-order cash on this system. Right now, all I see is confusion surrounding this system. Here’s hoping Nintendo can pull it all together.

Image from CVG

Nintendo’s press event was a very familiar one in the beginning. A lot of must have Nintendo franchises will be making appearances on Nintendo’s portable systems, and Wii. Most notably, Zelda’s 25 Anniversary is being celebrated with 4 Swords for DSi, Ocarina of Time 3D for 3DS, and Skyward Sword for Wii.

Also announced were symphonic concerts celebrating the music of Zelda, as well as 2 music cds. One will be of the music from the upcoming symphonic concert tour, and the other will be the soundtrack Ocarina of Time 3D offered free to those who register their copy of the game with Club Nintendo.

Mario Kart, Star Fox, a new Super Mario 3D, and a Pokemon Pokedex 3D update are coming to 3DS. Most interesting for me was to see Luigi’s Mansion make a return, and some impressive gameplay of Kid Ikarus Uprising.

Now, for the proverbial “elephant in the room.” Nintendo announces it’s new home console as Wii U, and only highlights….the controller?! I didn’t understand this part of the press conference at all. There is finally a Nintendo console with HD graphics to respond to the requests of the hardcore, and there are no specs discussed. Knowing that Wii U’s controller will interact with the Wii’s peripherals and Wiimote is fine and dandy, but I need information on the actual Wii U console. Is the native display 720p 1080i, or 1080p? What is the method of media? Is it DVD, BluRay, or some Nintendo proprietary format? Is there an internal hard drive, or will there be a need to use external SIM cards? What will the online infrastructure be like? Will there be friend codes? Hell, they don’t even show what the console looks like, but they highlight the fact that they put analog sticks, face buttons, and triggers on an iPad. All I know is, if I were Steve Jobs, I’m talking to my attorneys. I’m not understanding this move at all.

Perhaps the Wii U if further away from prime time than we all thought. Perhaps Nintendo is holding out for a proper unveiling at the Tokyo Game Show in August. All I know is, this has got to be the worst introduction of new console hardware at a high profile event like E3 I’ve ever seen. I’ll state it again–how can a company not discuss the specs of its new product; they didn’t even show it?

By the way, what happened to the Wii? Based on the way they treated it at the press conference, you’d think it was the PSP. Other than an announcement for Skyward Sword, the Wii wasn’t even mentioned.

I was really looking forward to Nintendo’s unveiling of its new console, but I came away from this press event more befuddled than anything else. I am interested to know more about Wii U, but they didn’t show me, or tell me nearly enough to get hyped about it. Hopefully more data will be forthcoming at E3, but this needed a lot more work. Nintendo faithful have familiar franchises to look forward to on 3DS, but as a whole, this was a poor press event.

Grade: F

For some reason unbeknown-st to the gaming community, 2k games decided not to run one of their adds featuring Serena Williams and an un-named actress. Now, to be fair, this stuff happens all of the time for various reason. Games cut out sections and re-release them later as downloadable content. Advertisers make multiple commercials-ads and targets specific demographics. Not all commercials make it to the public. People shouldn’t begin demanding a witch trial for 2 scantily clad women using the move controller. This is nothing more than a Victioria’s Secret commercial with a video game backdrop.

With the recent price drop on the Wii, Amazon saw a 1,700% increase in sales yesterday.  The NPD sales this month should be insane.  Prepare to continue to see WiiPlay! at the top of the list forever.

The writing is on the walls for plastic peripheral bundled games. Guitar Hero 5′s bundle sales haven’t been stellar in comparison to previous years, and Activision decided to give Guitar Hero: Van Halen free to purchasers of GH:5.  But, what should a company do to reinvigorate interest in the Guitar Hero franchise? One person…Hugh Hefner, The man who has helmed the ship of sexy ladies for the past 50 years. In a new GH:5 commercial two lovely ladies are on both sides of “Hef,” concentrating on their GH skills. This isn’t Hef’s first foray into gaming. You probably don’t remember the PS2 game, Playboy: The mansion, because no one played it….Well, on second thought, Allen did!

I don’t usually do first impression write-ups, but sometimes you have gaming experiences that strike a chord with you that is so strong, you’ve got to share with anyone you might think will listen. As I grow older as a gamer, these experiences are rare and precious. This experience has happened for me four times: The first time I played Intellivision (the game was Night Stalker), Ninja Gaiden (NES), Ninja Gaiden (Xbox), and most recently, Muramasa: The Demon Blade on the Wii.

If you want to hear a first impression on a Wii title that doesn’t have Zelda, Mario, or Metroid in the title, click the jump.

When I arrived at my friend’s home, I expected to spend an evening playing BlazBlue, or StreetFighter IV. I made it a point to bring one of my primo fight sticks with me. Instead, we spent 2 and a half hours passing the Wii-mote as we sliced and diced in VanillaWare’s gorgeously styled, Japanese mythos laden, 2D wonderland.

The first thing that grabbed me was the graphics. If you’ve ever played VanillaWare’s Odin-Sphere for Playstation 2, you have an idea of what you’re in for: Lush environments, bright pastel colors, silky smooth animation, and characters that look like they were bred at the creative crossroads of Disney and Manga. This game is gorgeous–and just as the visuals are a treat for the eyes, the music is a joy to listen to. While I didn’t play enough to really have an opinion on the story, it seemed interesting enough. It seems typical–one of the two main characters in the game has lost his memory. Yeah–that angle has been doen to death in JRPGs, but the fact that you’re an ass kicking ninja, and the quality of this game otherwise more than makes up for that.

Muramasa is an RPG that is all about weapon forging and combat. The combat takes a moment to get the hang of, but before long you’ll be deflecting shurikens, and slicing through enemies like so much sushi. I was using the “classic” control setting option with the SNES attachment. Jumping and defensive rolls were done with the control cross. Sword attacks were done with repeated presses of the A button. Blocking and projectile deflection is done by holding down the A button. Your swords’ special attacks can be unleashed with press of the X button, and health items can be used by pressing Y. The L button selects your weapon (you can carry two blades at a time; a long sword and a dual blade weapon), and when that weapon’s meter is full switching blades unleashes a “quick draw” attack that wipes out a screen full of lesser enemies, and causes big damage on boss characters.

Because you have Muramasa’s demon blade in your possession, you have access to the legendary sword maker’s spirit, who will forge new Muramasa blades for you using your spirit power (gained by consuming food) the souls of slain enemies (absorbed by the weapons) and the numerous swords you find during your journey, or take from fallen foes. Weapon forging is linear, as you must develop along a “skill-tree” of sorts to get the blade you’re after. Different swords have different powers; my friend and I forged a dual flame blade that turned enemies to ash with its special attack.

One more thing: This game is thumb blistering hard when you put it on the more difficult of the two initial difficulty settings. Regular enemies will cut you down if you’re not aggressive enough. It took us many tries to get past the first boss: A large pin-wheel shuriken wielding ninja.

When I left my friend’s home, I desperately wanted to go down to the Super Walmart and buy the Wii and this game right then and there. Unfortunately, if I did that, my wife would probably do massive damage to vital parts of my anatomy after seeing the bill–especially when we’re trying to buy a home now. Make no mistake though–at some point a Wii and Muramasa: Demon Blade will make it into my gaming collection. Even though this is just a first impression, I feel I can say without hesitation that if you have a Wii, do yourself a favor and at least rent it. Better yet, do VanillWare a favor and buy this game new from your retailer of choice to thank them for this awesome project. Even with only a couple of hours of game play in, (and aside from the fact that I don’t own a Wii at this time) this is my Wii game of the year–hands down. This game is that good.

Last week Harmonix announced 15 more songs to the already 10 previously known songs for The Beatles Rockband. This makes 25 out of the 45 songs that have now been revealed. So after seeing the list I realized that there are many songs from the list that I really didn’t know. Out of curiosity I spent time Youtube’n some of them to find out what they were. This led me to start a project that eventually is this blog post you are reading. If you are interested in checking out the song list and listening to some of the songs….

You can check the list and click the song for the music/vid to give it a listen…enjoy:

• And the Bird Can Sing
• Back in the U.S.S.R
• Birthday
• Can’t Buy Me Love
• Day Tripper
• Dig a Pony
• Do You Want to Know a Secret
• Eight Days a Week
• Get Back
• Here Comes the Sun
• I am the Walrus
• I Feel Fine
• I Saw Her Standing There
• I Want to Hold Your Hand
• I Wanna Be Your Man
• I’ve Got a Feeling
• Octopus’s Garden
• Paperback Writer
• Revolution
• Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help from My Friends
• Taxman
• Twist and Shout
• Within You, Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows
• Yellow Submarine
• Yesterday

The Beatles Rock Band releases on September 9th.

Goichi Suda, CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture says that No More Heroes 2nd game may be the last to appear on the Wii. Gamestooge.com has reported his statement regarding the future of the NMH franchise:

“I really want to make NMH a big franchise and with this second episode have bigger success. I’m putting a lot of care into developing this IP, as I feel there’s a lot of potential. I think this is the last NMH that is going to be developed on Wii. To expand NMH to new possibilities, we need a new platform. Wii is a great platform, but we’ve done everything we can with it now.”

Sounds to me like the sales returns may not have been what he was looking for–given the Wii’s install base. It shouldn’t be a surprise though. No More Heroes isn’t the type of game the majority of Wii owners are looking for.

The fun of NMH is the fact that it was coded from the ground up to utilize the Wii’s built in control scheme to produce an over-the-top action game that was fantastic fun to play. Honestly, I can’t imagine playing this game with a Dual Shock3 or a 360 controller. Sure, graphics w would be better, but unless he’s got a total re-boot for the series in mind, most of the fun will be left behind.

You ‘gotta love suits. They speak first, and think about the sillyness of their statements later–if ever. Newly appointed SCEE President Andrew House has issued some “suit-speak” reported on by CVG.com (via Official Playstation Magazine), where he talked about how Wii owners will add to the PS3′s install base over time. Huh?!

In his OPM interview, House Stated, “If you look back at previous lifecycles, like PS2 versus N64, we have lots of data that suggests that lots of people bought into N64 as their entry level gaming device, and were happy to upgrade to a more powerful machine later in the lifecycle when the price point was right for them. I think we’re going to see this later on PS3, and the fact that it’s a Blu-ray player as well and that there’s a [greater] wealth of network based experiences than are perhaps available on the device they already have will add to the proposition. I think that will definitely be a factor in the marketplace.”

Sony had the most games that I care about at E3, but I think Mr. House’s suit speak statement should have been checked through an assistant. The majority of Wii owners will never upgrade to a more powerful machine, because THEY AREN’T GAMERS. They have no interest in moving on to a PS3, or a 360 for that matter, because their journey into gaming begins and ends at Wii Sports, Wii Fit, and first party Nintendo titles. All he’d have to do is look at attachment rate data for the Wii to see that (unless you’re EA).

My father-in-law owns a Wii. He and his wife will play Wii Sports for hours when the family gathers. He has no interest at all in any other gaming system. As for BluRay–he’d sooner buy a BluRay player before even thinking about buying a Playstation3. While I haven’t done hard research, I would bet money that my father-in-law is the rule rather than the exception in regard to moving on from the Wii–simply by seeing who Nintendo has marketed the Wii too since its announcement and launch.

Mr. House’s time would be better spent trying to twist some Sony exec arms to get the Playstation3 at a better price point, than holding on to the pipe-dream of building the PS3′s installbase off of the Wii. Much like a release date for Duke Nukem Forever–it’ll never happen.

ScrewAttack.com has video of Capcom’s Tatsunoku vs Capcom trailer released at E3. I’m very surprised, and happy that Capcom was able to weave through the maze of legal poop to get all those licensed characters over here for the US audience. I just hope that unfamiliarity with Tatsunoku’s characters doesn’t keep American gamers away from this great looking fighter. Looks like I’ll be needing a fighting stick when I get my Wii…

Sin and Punishment is one of those gaming gems that came out for Nintendo 64 that most of us missed out on since it was released in Japan only. If you have a Wii, do yourself a favor, and download Sin and Punishment from Virtual Console immediately.Treasure looks set to re-capture that magic for the Wii, and let us American gamers in on the fun. CVG.com caught gameplay video and plenty of images of the upcoming Sin and Punishment 2.at E3.

I’m telling you–between Team Ninja’s Metroid and this, I think I want a Wii now.

New Super Mario Brothers for Wii has just been announced for the Nintendo Wii. A redesign of the original Mario, except with 4 player Co-Op. The game features a fresh mode of paint, complete with new hidden items. The 4 player Co-op seems to be the main focus of the game, allowing players to help each other out, and is also a competition for the 4 players.

I plan to review Punch-Out! soon but haven’t had a chance to play enough of it. This is going to be a brief overview of it in case you’re thinking about running out to grab it.

This game is a true remake of the original Punch-Out back in the days of the NES. If you liked the original, you’ll like the re-make. Nostalgia factor is very high. It’s a graphical puzzle figuring out how to beat each boxer. Currently I’m busy having King Hippo pound me into submission.

Graphics are updated and look very good. Again, a 2009 version of Punch-Out.

Summary : If you have fond memories of Mike Tyson kicking your teeth in, get this game. If you have no memories of the original, or hated it, skip it. Too early to talk about replay value but it feels like it would be a good rental

I just read an interesting article over at CNET. Apparently Nintendo has realized that they are drastically behind the 360 and PS3, and may be getting ready to equip the Wii for movie streaming capabilities. It’s an interesting notion, but who really wants to watch those movies in glorious 480p over component cables? Perhaps this move is preparation for the next generation Wii, which is almost certain to sport HD capability. Not surprisingly, Nintendo has declined to comment.

Suddenly, the E.S.R.B. has become useful. Just in case you forgot who the ESRB was, they provide game buyers with those handy ratings at the bottom of each game. It’s too inform Moms & Dad’s about the steroid use in Blitz:The League, or the naked senators in GTAIV: Lost & Damned. The tangible excitement here is the hopes that one day you can swing your Wii-Motes at Glass Joe and King Hippo again. Since the ESRB has reviewed the game, that must mean there is the game is finished, or near completion. Wii Casual&Hardcore fans unite for a trip down memory lane. Unless, Mike Tyson Punched out those memories back in the 80′s. Thanks to Nintendo World Report for the news.

UPDATE = according to The MTV Multiplayer Blog, Punch out for the Wii will see a May release.

Those looking for something more meaty than Wii Sports but far less gory than Mad World, may get their fix from The Conduit. High Voltage Software did a demo of their new project at the New York Comic Con. Its a first person shooter that looks quite Metroid-ish, and seems to utilize the Wii’s unique control system rather well. Aiming and shooting is done via the Wii-mote, and secondary actions like throwing grenades and using your flashlight seems to be done by motioning with the Nun chuck (why didn’t Nintendo call that controller the Wii-chuck?–Nevermind, I answered my own question). Anyway, check out the game footage at GameTrailers for the developer demo.

For me, the prospects of enjoyable games on the Wii is extremely slim at best. I don’t have Nintendo’s money printer, but once the wife’s requests for a Wii are answered, I’ll be playing MadWorld while she’s balancing on Wii-Fit.

Gamersyde.com is hosting Sega’s latest gameplay trailer of the game. It seems like a direct spoof on ESPN’s Sports Center. This game is not for the squimish, but it sure looks like a lot of fun.

Indie darling World of Goo received great reviews (currently a 94 and Universal Acclaim from MetaCritic). Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be enough to help this developer keep their head above water. GameDaily BIZ stated that Brighter Minds Media (publisher of World of Goo) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

It’s unfortunate that games like this are not as big a hit as the larger titles. It’s DRM-free release didn’t help either as they reported a 90% piracy rate.

Man, I loves me some Metallica. Mostly older Metallica, but ther are a few good songs on their recent Death Magnetic album. If you take a gander over at Metallica.com, you can see the anticipated full track listing for the upcoming GH: Metallica game. I am really looking forward to this game. Release date is March 29th.

Microsoft and Sony should take note. Not only is the graphically challenged Wii kicking their butt in sales, but they are apparently kicking their butt in customer service as well. The story goes that a guy was plaing his Wii that is 2 years old, and was getting some graphics artifacts on RE4 and GH:WT. He called customer service, and even though he thought his system was out of warranty, it was not (which makes me wonder what the Wii warranty is). So he was emailed a label, and shipped his Wii out for repairs XBOX 360 style. When his system was returned, a note was inside saying that they could not duplicate the problem, but they suspected the motherboard and replaced it. Nice. But what makes this story special is that they also sent him brand new replacement copies of the two games that he was having issues with. Now that is what I call customer service!

Some stories are almost to bizarre to believe, like the one about the thief who demanded the “least expensive XBOX” at gunpoint. This is a bloodcurdling tale of a Mom who took a prompt from her kids’ Wii a little bit too literally. Someone (and I dare say not a friend) told this lady that she needed to put her credit card in when prompted by her Wii. Now if someone told me this, I would take it to mean that I needed to enter the number, but I digress. So this lady ended up inserting (physically) 3 credit cards into the disc slot of the Wii, which consequently caused problems. Moral of the story, keep that woman away from videogames. She might kill someone next.

Naah, or course not. But they probably should have taken a bit of a closer look at the 14 used copies of Animal Crossing: Wild World (for DS) that they sent to the press. They sent these games out to demonstrate the user asset sharing abilities between WW and Wii’s Animal Crossing: City Folk.

The problem was that MTV Multiplayer noticed that one of the characters from WW–named Baarbara, was greeting the press players by saying, “Love you long time”, and “How are you ‘N-word’?”

Now, it must be noted that Animal Crossing: WW allows you to customize the greetings and share those greetings virally online in your saved city, but you would think Nintendo, or any company for that matter–would kind of go through the used games with a feature like this in order to weed out the questionable content. Nintendo, of course, sent out the requisite “We’re sorry” corporate letters to all involved. Maybe someone was just a little too excited after listening to the new ‘Lil Wayne cd….

Holy smokes! 800,000 units in one week? That’s ridiculous! Now if they could only make some games. Picture shamelessly stolen from Gizmodo, which is where the full article can be found.

OK. I know that there is a fair amount of hatred among hardcore gamers, and most of it is understandable. However, those of us who consider ourselves “old-school” gamers should love the Wii, thanks to the Homebrew Channel. **Gamer Husbands does not advocate hacks of any system or software. Over at Gizmodo they have a nice tutorial on how to play classic games on your Wii console. Get ready to break out the old NES games!

OK, since there is next to nothing in the Wii forum, I thought I would post a review of the latest “game” that I picked up for Wii. Wii Fit is still moderately scarce despite it’s $89.99 price tag.

Graphics: Typical Wii/GameCube graphics. That being said, what else does anyone expect from a Wii? 1080p? Not in this lifetime. My fat little Mii is my onscreen representation. 3 out of 5 (can’t get any higher with Wii graphics)

Initial Setup: The game starts off with a basic setup routine on entering your name, picking your Mii, entering your height and birthday. After that it tests your body balance, while explaining to you the downfalls of bad body balance (which make complete sense). Finally, it gives you your BMI (obese) and weight, subsequently calculating your Wii Fit Age (mine was 35 amazingly, and I am 35). You can enter a weight loss goal, but it will not let you exceed 22 lbs (my personal goal is 30). 4 out of 5

Game Play: There are four main areas in the program: Yoga, Strength Excercises, Aerobics, and Balance Games. The Yoga area consists of a few Yoga poses that are designed to stretch you and work on balance. The Strength Exercises are things like push ups, which also track your balance. Aerobics starts out with a fun little step aerobics game that kind of makes you think of DDR. The most fun area by far is the Balance Games. Be aware though that fun DOES NOT translate into EASY. These games are very tricky, because you need to keep your body equally balanced side to side and front to back to get good ratings. Once game puts you in goal on the soccer pitch. By leaning left or right, you block free kicks. Seemingly simple, but you need to have excellent body control to do well at this game…..and then the AI characters intermittently start throwing shoes and animals in with the soccer balls. The ski slalom game is fun, but tough, as well as the ski jump. Each of the activity areas have hidden content that is unlocked as you put time into the game. In each task that you complete, you are graded on a star system relating either to skill or balance. Also, the time that you take in the activity is entered into your “Bank”. As you get more skill and log more time, you can unlock content in one of the game areas. 4.5 out of 5

Overall Impression: I know that most of the GHR crew deplores the Wii, and most of it is justified. However, Wii Fit is a worthwhile offering on the lowly console, and has a wide appeal (especially if you are wide). The graphics aren’t superb, but this is a fun, yet rewarding experience. Time will tell if it helps me achieve my weight loss goal. Of course, staying away from ice cream will help that too.

Overall Grade: 4 out of 5

HARDCORE GAMERS!!…Nintendo hasn’t forgotten about you. They just forgot to mention the new projects they have been working on. Nintendo has a long history of being secretive. According to the media, Nintendo has always been clandestine about their projects. Including the dark ages known as the Gamecube. Listen to some of the older 1up podcasts when they discuss the hardship in obtaining any type of exclusive from Nintendo. Miyamoto discusses with IGN that the Zelda team have been working hard on a new Zelda game, and there is a separate DS team that is working on a new Zelda title. They have also confirmed a new Mario title in the works. No dates have been confirmed yet, but the 2008 holiday season is around the corner. Will Nintendo bet the bank on cutesy Kirby? Doubtful. Nintendo fans, be patient. Mario and Zelda haven’t let us down before. Both of them have princesses to save!

The NPD numbers are looking more like “business as usual” for yet another month. I don’t even think New Kids on the Block lasted on top this long. But, that’s a good thing. It’s interesting because the Wii isn’t the top seller this month. It is second place by over a 100,000 units to it’s little brother the DS. The DS has definitely picked up steam, since it has been deemed as the choice console for on-the-go people. I will crown Nintendo the victor only when my parents buy a Wii or DS product. Until then, the race is still on! Click here for the numbers, courtesy of 1up.

Being that we were lacking reviews on the Nintendo Wii games, “Emanon” also know as Chaz will be helping us in that department. Chaz was featured on Episode 7 as our first ever Community Q and A interview. Check out his review of Wii Mario Kart now up in the Reviews section. Also, he has purchased Wii Fit so look for a future review over that to come along too.

Thanks for your efforts Emanon.

Tired of just looking at strippers and wishing you could virtually pole dance yourself? Well Nintendo is bringing that fantasy to reality. They’ve confirmed that a Wii Poledancing game is in the works. For more info swing over and click this link.

So whose gonna pass on Wii Fit and save up their dollar bills for this one?