Without outright saying "Hey guys, we're making an Elebits sequel," Konami Product Manager Gregg Nolan has discussed aspects of a new Elebits Wii game in an interview we found behind the fridge at Siliconera.
When he says "new," Gregg means new -- this won't be a port of forthcoming DS title Elebits: Adventures of Kai & Zero, but a totally fresh Elebits experience, one which follows on from the story in the first game, and overlaps with the characters and environments in the DS title. DS/Wii connectivity has been discussed within the team, though no decisions have been reached yet. You may now commence whooping loudly.
According to Cubed3, the latest issue of Official Nintendo Magazine UK brings word that a new Elebits game is on the way. We're going to call it a rumor until we see either the magazine or official notice from Konami, but we feel that it's probably okay to get a little excited.
Elebits was a highlight of the early Wii lineup, one of the few games of 2006 not to have terrible motion controls. We can't wait to see what kinds of interactions a wiser Konami will be able to simulate. That house is trashed -- and also we'll find some creatures or whatever.
Every (other) Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
Custom level creation in console games has come a long way. It used to be, if you wanted to share a track that you built in Excitebike, you had to invite friends over to play your creation on your cartridge, until you powered off your NES and the track was lost forever. Nowadays our levels can be saved to internal storage, and shared by removable media, or across the internet to survive for posterity.
It's a feature that's fully supported by all consoles this generation, and big games are highlighting it amongst their bullet points. System sellers like Halo 3, LittleBigPlanet, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl are trojan-horsing the concept of custom level creation into the consciousness of the console-consuming collective. Former Sony exec Phil Harrison popularized the term "Game 3.0," but we'll be taking a look at how it is playing out on Nintendo's platform.
If you want to replicate the act of cruelty in the video above on some Elebits of your own, yet somehow don't have the title in your collection, know this: Konami's online store (and otheroutlets) are now offering Elebits for just under twenty bucks. That's impressively cheap for one of the Wii's most under-rated titles, not to mention a favorite of one David Hinkle, a man whose impeccable taste we dare not question.
We wouldn't recommend Dewy's Adventurequite as strongly, but it's available for the same price elsewhere on Konami's site.
Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield spoke to Konami's current de facto head Wii guy, Shingo Mukaitoge, who directed both Elebitsand Dewy's Adventure, in an enjoyably in-depth interview about influences, interests, and a bit of game history.
Mukaitoge got his start as an architecture student, but moved to games after college, directing console music games for Konami before getting a chance to develop his two original Wii games. When the time came to create the original game, he says, the design followed from the Wiimote -- which seems kind of obvious when you play Elebits, the game of pointing at stuff.
The games were more popular in the U.S. than in Japan, which Mukaitoge theorizes is due in part to Japan's reliance on franchises: "Well I've found that mysterious myself, as well, but the Japanese market tends to purchase games that already have previous versions, like franchise games, instead of original ones. Maybe that is one of the reasons. It's not a good thing though..."
This startlingly candid interview is worth checking out. Towards the end, Sheffield and Mukaitoge begin riffing on obscure Saturn and PC Engine RPGs and talking about great Yuzo Koshiro music. It's always nice to find out that game directors put some effort into playing games occasionally.
Aside from stuffing our faces with 7,000 calories worth of food on Thanksgiving, we Americans are supposed to reflect on what we're most thankful for. While things like LOLcatz and coffee definitely make the list (oh right, and our families and friends, we guess), we wanted to show a little appreciation for the Wii as well. The Nintendo Wii Fanboy staff was thus asked what about the Wii we are most thankful for. The following is what happens when you have a staff with the collective maturity level of 37% (calculated by science).
Now that Zack & Wiki has been released into the wild, IGN's Matt Casamassina needs something new to hype, and we're all sorts of behind this latest choice: Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. In a recent blog entry, he reports that the controls are out of this world. In fact, he says the WWII title "beats the pants offMetroid Prime 3 in the FPS control department. This is the new Wii benchmark, period." That's a bold statement, but it seems to jibe with what we've seen and heard so far about the game ... and hey, we get bonus incredible multiplayer to boot. Put us down in the excited column on this one.
In the same post, he drops possible hints of an Elebits sequel. Exciting!
We love all sorts of game-related videos, from straight up footage to fan-made homages, but videos that blend several elements from pop culture are always fun. Continuing the theme from last week's dramatic look at Super Smash Brothers Brawl is a similar video, though much lighter in tone. This one features those super cute Elebits and music from Naruto. Check it out after the jump!
Turns out, upon releasing to Europeans this Spring, Elebits is to receive a change of name. Apparently, the word 'bit' is a bit 'o English slang, which is defined as:
Bit: Noun. A woman. Abb. of 'bit of fluff' or 'bit of skirt', generally a person viewed sexually. Derog.
Eledees is going to be the new moniker by which hunting small electrical creatures in a wide variety of environments will be called in the PAL territory. While both names share a piece of the ridiculous pie, we wonder which one has taken the bigger slice?
Do you find yourself wondering what the various modes in Elebits are all about? Do you yearn for someone to show you how to get in on the zapping action yourself? Never fear, gentle fansters, there's help out there just for you! Check out the trio of Elebits videos after the jump for a mixture of walkthrough, review, and random commentary.
With a couple of notable releases this week, our pick of the litter obviously goes to Elebits. That's what we're planning on playing, but what about you guys? More interested in Far Cry or perhaps Metal Slug Anthology? Or are you still hung up in Zelda or another game? Or do you, in fact, plan on doing as we are and hunting down all of those little creatures, trashing houses in the process of doing so?
Elebits, the launch title (before Metroid Prime 3 was pushed back) this blogger wants the most, has finally released and we can now go hunting for those tiny little critters, tearing apart kitchens and gardens as we do so. We're quite sure, based on our time with the title at E3 and what has been shown since, that we're going to love it, but what about the rest of the game reviewing world? What do the critics think of the game?
Game Informer - 70%: "The tactile sensation of pointing at a popcorn cart and flinging it into the stratosphere is interesting and fun, but simple movement and navigation will occasinally be a needlessly frustrating obstacle." [Jan 2007, p.106]
IGN - 83%: "If you're looking for a visual stunner, Elebits is not for you. But if you just want a really fun outing that's every bit as original as it is engaging, I think Elebits is your game. This title is destined for sleeper status."
Gamebrink - 89%: "A solid title that uses the Wiimote and Nunchuk controls extremely well. If you're not in it for the offline 4 player multiplayer, which isnt all that great, or the level building then this is probably a rental. Though, if you want to get perfect rankings on all the levels youll likely want to make it a purchase." [Japanese import]
Have you ever seen those weird Half-Life 2 videos where a dummy is catapulted all around an environment through a series of explosions and the like? Well, with Elebits, it appears some are doing the same, as evidenced by the embedded video, available for view past the jump.
Plenty of games releasing this week for our beloved Wii, so which titles do you want to get your hands on? Perhaps, like us, you've waited for Elebits, slowly rocking back and forth in the fetal position on the floor in the corner of your room, counting down the seconds to release as you mumble incoherently to yourself. Or, perhaps, you remember to take your medication so things of that nature do not happen?
Chicken Little: Ace in Action
Elebits
Far Cry: Vengeance
Super Swing Golf
World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions
Metal Slug Anthology
As always, quantities are subject to manufacturer delivery.
The folks over at Gamebrink got their hands on a Japanese retail version of Elebits and taken some video, as well as documented their impressions, of the game. Their overall opinion of the game? Good, very good; simplistic gameplay melds with progressively difficult challenges to create quite the gameplay experience. They compare the game to a combination of Nintendo's Pikmin with Katamari Damacy.
Check out the video, which has been embedded into the post past the jump and is rather lengthy and chock full of gameplay.
Aside from stuffing our faces with 
