As much as we love our Wii, it's not exactly creaking under the weight of great racing titles. There's Game Night favorite Mario Kart Wii, which isreally fun, but that already comes with its own wheel, which works surprisingly well. And after that, we have (in order of GameRankings.com score) Excite Truck, MX vs. ATV Untamed, Speed Racer, and Cars, followed by fourteen other depressing drives.
None of which is intended as a slur on Logitech's new force feedback wheel for the Wii, which actually looks and sounds excellent. Releasing in November for $99.99 (!), the Logitech Speed Force Wireless features built-in gas and brake controls, a comfy-looking expandable lap rest, a wireless USB receiver and, naturally, full force feedback.
A new Mario Kart Wii tournament has gone live. It takes place between August 15th (hey, that's today!) and August 25th. You'll have to race on Koopa Cape, one lap, through 25 different rings scattered around the course. For some video footage of the tournament track, head past the break.
Update 2: The staff has left the Game Night chat. Plenty of folks are still in there, gaming as you read this. So head on into the chat already!
With the return of our weekly sessions last week, we decided a reminder was needed. So, we whipped up the above video, which shows Dave enjoying some Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, along with some Mario Kart Wii. If you look closely, you can even see Chris ram Dave underneath a car. How cruel!
Hijinks like the above, and more, are commonplace at Game Night. So, for the full details on what Game Night is all about, head past the break.
This latest tournament (check out previous tournaments here) for Mario Kart Wii focuses on Diddy and Donkey Kong. And, as you might have guess from the images above, will take place on the track DK64 Jungle Park. There, you must avoid the bananas that both Donkey and Diddy Kong drop from atop their motorcycles. Sadly, there isn't any other info, so we assume you can use any control method you'd like for this one.
The tournament starts today and ends on the 10th. Good luck!
Update: Courtesy of WiiFolder, a video has been embedded past the break, to give you all a better idea of what to expect.
To the surprise of, well, no one, Nintendo had a pretty stellar first fiscal quarter of 2008, raking in a net profit of nearly 1 billion dollars (107.2 billion yen). Wii hardware was responsible for $5.17 million of that profit, which is an increase of almost $1.75 million from last year's fiscal Q1. Meanwhile, Wii software raked in $40.41 million (up $24.42 million).
Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit were part of the reason for this software success, since in the quarter Wii Fit sold 3.42 million copies and Mario Kart sold a whopping 6.42 million units. And, if you weren't yet convinced that Nintendo deserves the "printing money" meme, the company is projected to bring in a net profit of about $3 billion dollars for the year.
We don't know about you, but our own wallets and bank accounts are growling with envy.
Update: Fixed some typos. Thanks for the heads up, Sonic_13!
We're kind of glad to see Persona 4 blow away the competition in software, even if it's not a Wii game (cough -- it should be). Nothing else really sold all that well, not even the games in the top ten. Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii keep piling on copies to their ever-growing mountains, though, and remain snug in the top ten.
The other big news in terms of Japanese software is the release of Resident Evil 0. Capcom's port did debut at spot six, but only sold 20k copies in its first week. This game won't come even close to being the cash cow that Resident Evil 4 was, but we're sure Capcom will still make a pretty ported penny.
Hardware sales show that the Wii was stuck in third, again: You can check out Japan's software sales and rankings from last week after the break.
The first thing we noticed upon scanning through last week's top thirty games was that Shiren the Wanderer 3 was missing, to our disappointment. The second thing we noticed was that Tales of Symphonia dropped 100,000 copies from its debut week's sales. While the top thirty software chart definitely looks promising for the Wii at a glance, we can't really feel good about placements in light of such details. As for what Wii game topped the rest? Look up and take a guess.
On the hardware front, the Wii stayed put in third behind the handhelds: Since hardware is only half the fun, though, check out the software numbers too after the break.
This Wii had a lot of software representation in the top ten this week, with a third-party game taking the highest honors -- Namco Bandai's Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Japan's Wii RPG love wasn't enough to put the newest Tales game into first place, though; a DS title about horse racing, Derby Stallion, took that coveted position. Yet, Symphonia's first week sales are pretty impressive.
The other Wii games that found themselves in the top ten were Mario Super Sluggers, and of course Wii Fit and Mario Kart. As for hardware, the Wii dropped to third place, falling behind the DS by a minuscule margin: To see the top ten software sales numbers and rankings, just clicky clicky on the "continue reading" link below.
Now this is an old one. How many of you can remember this classic ad, utilizing the "SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!" voiceover guy? Did you know that the karts found in Mario Kart have two speeds? Fast and WAY TOO FAST! Ah, classic commercials, it doesn't get much better than that.
Each week, our Friday Video segment takes a look at the gaming landscape online and brings forth an interesting video that (hopefully) gets the dialog started. Past entries have included a look at Mario on the PS2 (what?) and some of Nintendo's other marketing attempts.
Japan Trust Technology has become the latest third-party company to offer an alternative to the perfectly-fine-as-it-is Wii Wheel. Unlike Nintendo's own effort, the JTT wheel comes with a steering column that attaches to surfaces through a combination of a suction cup and your disgusting saliva. We've seen third-party wheels add a steering column before, though this one also allows you to vertically swivel the wheel through 120°, likeso.
We've not a clue if this will ever see the light of day in the west, but if it does then JTT might want to reconsider the price: right now, this is retailing for ¥2,980, a.k.a. $28, a.k.a. three first-party Wii Wheels. That's hella pricey -- especially for something you can get for free!
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Well, except for the PSP, that is. Sony's handheld is still as mighty as ever. Even so, the Wii toppled all the other home consoles once again last week, reclaiming its second-place spot:
The new Wii kid on the block in the charts is Mario Super Sluggers, which didn't sell as well as we thought it would, considering that it's a baseball game -- one published by Nintendo, no less. That's why we love Japanese sales so much, though. Just when we think we have the country all figured out, it goes and surprises us again.
Everything else Wii related is pretty much just business as usual, but check past the break to see where the games ranked in the top thirty and how much the top tenners sold.
Fans of those Mario Kart Wiitournaments that havebeenpoppingup, you'll be happy to know a new tournament will be taking place next month. Starting on July 1st, anybody who heads on over to the Coconut Mall and collects some coins (you have to play Coin Collector) will be entered in the new tourney. With Coconut Mall being one of our favorite tracks in Mario Kart Wii, we're anxious to check this one out.
Update: The staff have left the Game Night chat. You're more than welcome to pop in and say "Hello." Just tell them we sent you!
We figured it was time we whipped up another promo video showing what you're missing at Game Night. Last week, I played a bunch of Mario Kart Wii and used some clips from my play sessions to comprise the video above. Hopefully, you'll like it, and it'll get you to attend with us. How do you do that?
Just show up here at the site around 7pm ET tonight. You'll see this post at the top of the page with the link to the Game Night chat. If not, keep refreshing, it'll get to the top of the page. We hope to see you there tonight!
Last week in Japan was all about Sony dominance, as Metal Gear Solid 4 rocketed the PS3 into first. The Wii still did pretty well for itself, though, nabbing the third spot in hardware and nine of the top thirty in software: Shiren the Wanderer 3 managed to remain in the top ten despite the Metal Gear bullying, but everything else was as we expected. Just click past the break if you want to check out the software rankings and sales numbers.
This week, in our Friday Video feature, we figured we'd check out some Mario Kart Wii shortcuts, since you all seemed to enjoy the video that helped you tackle Grumble Volcano. So, in the video above, short cuts are shown for five stages in the game. We hope this helps you become a more effective Mario Karter.
Somebody has to give the folks at Game Night some competition!
Yes, pointless.
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