Bundles of Awesome - The Official WiiWare Discussion Thread

Ninty sure is doing some weird stuff with WiiWare right now. Why launch in Japan and Europe with two (or was it more?) first-party efforts, but none in the US? And as of now, it looks like the US won't be getting any first-party efforts until at least the 3rd week out.

This combined with the company's continued sluggishness when it comes to VC (which I've actually given up on - at some point in the future I'll check out the Wii Shop, and if some of the SNES games are up there I'll by them then), makes me wonder exactly what they're thinking sometimes.

I actually think it's kind of cool that NOA is highlighting third-party WiiWare games over their own, but why didn't the Japan and European arms of the company do the same? Weird...
 
BooJoh said:
Either way, I'm just a little disappointed if there's nothing first party hitting yet.
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There's a positive side to this, as at least for the WiiWare NA first weeks we won't be hearing the argument that Nintendo first party products hinder the possible sales of the third party ones.
 
Alaluef said:
There's a positive side to this, as at least for the WiiWare NA first weeks we won't be hearing the argument that Nintendo first party products hinder the possible sales of the third party ones.
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I think it's NOA's way of playing nice. With Smash, Mario Kart and Wii Fit hitting back to back to back, they're letting the 3rd party indie devs have the spotlight on WiiWare.

I wouldn't have a problem with major NOA WiiWare releases being on hold for a few months. Let some indies shine for a while.
 
d+pad said:
Ninty sure is doing some weird stuff with WiiWare right now. Why launch in Japan and Europe with two (or was it more?) first-party efforts, but none in the US? And as of now, it looks like the US won't be getting any first-party efforts until at least the 3rd week out.
Click to expand...

It hasn't launched in Europe at all yet.

d+pad said:
This combined with the company's continued sluggishness when it comes to VC (which I've actually given up on - at some point in the future I'll check out the Wii Shop, and if some of the SNES games are up there I'll by them then), makes me wonder exactly what they're thinking sometimes.
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Just as well to give up on it. Nintendo are very smart about their releases, and they want to push them out slowly so smaller titles will get more attention (both WiiWare and VC). This isn't new, and it may not be fun, but why do people keep expecting this to change?
 
Talamius said:
I think it's NOA's way of playing nice. With Smash, Mario Kart and Wii Fit hitting back to back to back, they're letting the 3rd party indie devs have the spotlight on WiiWare.

I wouldn't have a problem with major NOA WiiWare releases being on hold for a few months. Let some indies shine for a while.
Click to expand...
That's how I'm seeing it.

I may be crucified for thinking like this, but if delaying Dr. Mario helped boost some sales for LostWinds and the other games on the service, then I'm all for it.
 
nli10 said:
UK UPDATE OF LAUNCH WINDOW GAMES



I'm getting the Pirate one ASAP and the rest whenever.
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If it's available...

Nintendo UK said:
With just a few days to go before the launch of the service, here is some more detailed information about some of the games you’ll find on WiiWare during the service’s launch window.
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When it comes to NoE, "launch window" may as well read "sometime between 20th May 2008 and 20th May 2009"
 
Monkeylord said:
If it's available...



When it comes to NoE, "launch window" may as well read "sometime between 20th May 2008 and 20th May 2009"
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I typed Launch window in caps and then used it as a link, I noticed it and understand what it means :p

I'm in no rush and expect the launch window to be at least a month, probably up to three while the backlog of games get launched in 4s and 5s. After that I see games appearing as and when depending on how popular this is with devs.
 
Alaluef said:
That's how I'm seeing it.

I may be crucified for thinking like this, but if delaying Dr. Mario helped boost some sales for LostWinds and the other games on the service, then I'm all for it.
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Oh, I agree that LostWinds probably benefited from the absence of Dr. Mario and Pokemon Farm, especially among the "have to get something at WiiWare launch" crowd, and that's certainly a good thing.

I just wasn't expecting them to drop to 2 games a week on the second week, while still holding back on first party stuff. But hey, I'll happily admit I'm just mildly annoyed that I don't want either of those games, and that's just me being selfish.

Hopefully it won't take long for the WiiWare backlog of completed-but-unreleased games to dwindle, and we'll start seeing WiiWare games released shortly after completion.
 
Alaluef said:
There's a positive side to this, as at least for the WiiWare NA first weeks we won't be hearing the argument that Nintendo first party products hinder the possible sales of the third party ones.
Click to expand...
It also means a LOT of potential customers won't come to the Wii Shop that would otherwise would get drawn in (sooner) thanks to Dr. Mario and or Pokemon. Well, at least there is Final Fantasy to draw a lot of consumers in, but it certainly wouldn't be a bad thing if Nintendo would release them in week 3, since it would also benefit the games already out now.

Actually, it still amazes me Nintendo has not made a internally developed WiiWare game. Before we knew a lot about WiiWare's games that were supposedly launch titles, I really thought Nintendo would have a killer app ready to release the service like they do most of the time when launching something new. Third party's would be wise to not waste this incredible oppertunity. Luckily, at the very least some of them didn't on launch. :)
 
I'm hoping that Nintendo is just being quiet until E3. I remember hearing something like 30% of all WiiWare games were Nintendo early when the service was announced... now we have, what? Pokemon storage and Dr. Mario?
There has to be more...

I do think that Nintendo is trying to give third parties a chance, though. If they released some kind of Mario game, everyone would download it giving the other efforts released that week no chance.

Also, I wonder how many people even know about WiiWare. XboxLive Arcade is pretty easily accessed and open to people that have an Xbox Live account. All you have to do is go to the marketplace tab. WiiWare is hidden in the shop channel. Does the average Wii gamer even update their firmware or install channels?
 
nli10 said:
I typed Launch window in caps and then used it as a link, I noticed it and understand what it means :p
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lol, my bad... I thought it was just the title, and you'd converted it to a link. I totally missed the "launch window" bit till I read it a second time and thought you'd done a similar thing :lol
 
Fantastical said:
Also, I wonder how many people even know about WiiWare. XboxLive Arcade is pretty easily accessed and open to people that have an Xbox Live account. All you have to do is go to the marketplace tab. WiiWare is hidden in the shop channel. Does the average Wii gamer even update their firmware or install channels?
Click to expand...

Certain games auto-update the firmwire I think; Mario Kart did this if I remember correctly. With that hitting a lot of consoles, and then adding in those that are online are likely updating as well, I imagine most people notice the Shop Channel icon on the main Wii Channel menu showing "WII WARE" Which is probably all the advertising it needs to get to the average gamer.
 
BooJoh said:
I don't think your article really made that clear. It reads as though each company confirmed their own game, which would reveal nothing of the possibility for other games. Did each company actually mention both of those games?
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Kohler said he's "pretty sure" those are the only two games.

Someone says "well, it's still up in the air..."

Kohler clears his throat and repeats himself.

In other news... we lost our Friday evening Virtual Console release lists because NOA/GH noticed that they were being leaked.

__________

READ
__________
 
Rose Princess coming to Wiiware

The Rose Princess, for those who don't know, is a game which was revealed by Luc last year which stars a girl who kills anything she touches, and a failed mechanical rabbit named Mr. Cuddles who was rejected by its owner and turned to cross-dressing, prostitution, alcohol-dependency and drug-addiction. The game follows the duo's quest to find acceptance in a strange fictional world. In addition to confirming that this will be coming to WiiWare, Luc also expanded on the gameplay and storyline elements of the Rose Princess.

The title will be a 2D Castlevania-inspired adventure game with 8 different open-ended worlds and a 'Victorian Disney style'. The characters in the game are like the Looney Tunes gone bad, and the game will also feature pugs. Lots of pugs.
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http://www.n-europe.com/news.php?nid=11841
 
Do we know whether we're getting any new WiiWare titles on Monday or not? I've heard rumblings about WiiWare titles only being published every other week.
 
Fantastical said:
When did that rumor(?) start?
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Actually.. it was confirmed by a Bergsala official here in Sweden when asked about what the "launch window" meant - he said that they'll release games every other week.

Though, that might just be for Europe, and thankfully I have an American Wii.
 
Lee N said:
Actually.. it was confirmed by a Bergsala official here in Sweden when asked about what the "launch window" meant - he said that they'll release games every other week.

Though, that might just be for Europe, and thankfully I have an American Wii.
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was just for Europe, but it's not as if its a big surprise. NoE has been shit for who knows how long. I don't think we'll really know until the 2nd week WiiWare has been out in Europe, unless Nintendo makes an official statement.
 
I don't particularly care though.. not now when we know we're getting WiiWare games on Monday. I was just worried that it might be something they were doing in the US too.

and yeah, I guess we'll see if it's true..
 
I hate Luc Bernard I hate Luc Bernard I hate Luc Bernard why does every "game" of his sound like the exact same shitty premise? And how many of these carbon copy games has he announced now? :-\
 
Neo Child said:
Sources tell me this is going for 1000 Wii Points, count me in =]
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Sources, eh?
That seems reasonable. I wonder how long the game will be though. Seems like a game that would really benefit from cheap downloadable content to keep you coming back once you've bought the game, rather than a full sequel.
 
I think one of the most interesting aspects of Wii-Ware games, is the fact that because they're 100% self contained downloaded games they can be patched and refined ad-infinitum. Nintendo aren't known for patches, and don't patch retail games - instead they've merely replaced defective discs so far (GHIII, Mario PArty 8, Super Paper Mario).

What do you guys think are the chances of games that don't originally have support for DLC would someday be patched to support them? Do you think developers are waiting to see if it's worth doing?

Also, sequels to the shorter games (Lost Winds comes to mind) - do you think they'd be stand-alone sequels, or possibly combinable (eg: if you own Lost Winds and DL Lost Winds 2 you end up with Lost Winds+ all in one channel, rather than a LW1 channel and a LW2 channel).


I think that unless Nintendo give access to more storage and more channel slots I'd love to see sequels treated as joinable episodes. The less menu space they takeup the better.
 
Monkeylord said:
Also, sequels to the shorter games (Lost Winds comes to mind) - do you think they'd be stand-alone sequels, or possibly combinable (eg: if you own Lost Winds and DL Lost Winds 2 you end up with Lost Winds+ all in one channel, rather than a LW1 channel and a LW2 channel).


I think that unless Nintendo give access to more storage and more channel slots I'd love to see sequels treated as joinable episodes. The less menu space they takeup the better.
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I think they would (and probably should) be separate channels. I can see how it might be nice to have one channel for the game, but that one channel would still be taking up the space of both games on your Wii. I'll be happy with the likely scenario that it'll just use a different channel icon and say "LostWinds Chapter 2" etc.

That way people can delete Chapter 1 when they're finished, and if Chapter 2 were to use any previous save data (like number of statues collected in Chapter 1) then it could access that save data without the Chapter 1 channel needing to still be there anyway.
 
Neo Child said:
New TokiTori gameplay video!

http://tokitori.com/video/TokiToriGameplay.wmv - WMV
http://tokitori.com/video/TokiToriGameplay.mov - Quicktime

Sources tell me this is going for 1000 Wii Points, count me in =]
Click to expand...


do-want.jpg
 
batbeg said:
I hate Luc Bernard I hate Luc Bernard I hate Luc Bernard
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Same. I think all three of the three worst ideas to ever show their face on a Nintendo system are his sociopolitical messages masquerading as games. :| And that's saying something since they've played host to Mario is Missing and Mario's Time Machine.
 
How far have you guys gotten in Defend your Castle? I'm playing a bit each day and right now am up to level 60 something. I'm sure I can videos online for farther, although I don't think you can make your kingdom self powered anymore.
 
I think I'm at level 36 or around there. It's hitting the point where I can't play more than two or three levels in one sitting because they're so lengthy, but it's still pretty cool. I do kind of regret building up to 71 archers, though; I'd rather have 200+ wizards (think I have like 136 or something) just because of how much more effective the spells are.
 
I went and did some looking around online and it seems very possible to specialize in a few towers over others, which makes me wonder if with four people I could just build only masons. Something to try out tomorrow when I see some friends.
 
So how is the difficulty of Defend Your Castle compared to the Flash version? I only got to level 11 or so before I was having trouble keeping up in the Flash version. Granted I mostly just had archers and reinforced walls, but if the WiiWare version ramps up the difficulty as fast, I could see that limiting my enjoyment and/or breaking my wrist.
 
Jiggy37 said:
I think I'm at level 36 or around there. It's hitting the point where I can't play more than two or three levels in one sitting because they're so lengthy, but it's still pretty cool. I do kind of regret building up to 71 archers, though; I'd rather have 200+ wizards (think I have like 136 or something) just because of how much more effective the spells are.
Click to expand...
It took me forever to figure out that the eraser wasn't the only spell. After giving it a few dozen wizards I figured "Screw that; why spend people on a spell that often misses who I want it to take out when I could stick them into one of the useful towers instead?"
 
There's an FFXII defense force now?

The game is harder on Wii, although like in the original you can get to a point where your converted units do the majority of the fighting for you, but then there's a new unit type for the Wii version that pretty much needs you to take out manually, or use the eraser.

The levels are unlimited, and Heroic mode is a lot harder than Normal, as you can even take some damage in the first level if you're playing lax.

In the morning I plan to go out and see some friends, and one has the game on their Wii by my recommendation, so I'll see hour 4-player is like. Two player with my brother the other day wasn't bad at all.

Changes:

Enemies do less damage, but faster ramp up after the first 20 or 30 levels.

New enemy type appears past level 40 on normal.

Takes more mages to unlock spells.

Spells don't have any costs to them, just invisible cool down times that get shorter with the more mages you have.

Mages and Arches at least are less effective.

You can use the convert spell on the "Giant" units.

Limit to how many converted units you can hold (12) but not yet trained units you can hold before you're not allowed to convert any thing by any means.

Units don't cost any points to make nor is there any upkeep.

A king is chosen after every level based on whoever made the most points in the previous round. Playing by yourself, you're always king (duh). The King gets to choose whether or not to save and which upgrades to buy during the break, and then controls the use and recruiting of units as well as the mage spells, although anybody can blow up the bomb guys from the demolition lab, and anybody can use the pit of conversion to convert units still.

The enemies do each have different point totals. For the multi-hit enemies like the Giants, I haven't observed if points are split between all that attack it or if they're given to whoever made the last hit. The Pit of Conversion gives triple points for any unit dropped into it. These points decide who becomes king at the end of the round, and archer kills don't give anybody points.

Finally, in Heroic mode, all enemies give different point totals, but I haven't actually played it myself, only watched.

Edit: Ok, GAF died during the few minutes it took to type this. Time to investigate.
 
Chris,

Did Konami or Hudson confirm anything about Nintendo's plans as far as release schedule in general? As in, is Nintendo shooting to release two WiiWare games every Monday?
 
Ugh, 2 WiiWare games a week is killin' my buzz.

Remember back when Nintendo's PR said that developers could choose their prices (read: they can't), and release to WiiWare whenever (read: they also can't)? REMEMBER.

Also, could someone enlighten me on why I should be excited about Toki Tori? It's hard to reach your levels of heightened arousal when all I see is some duck thing running around laying eggs.
 
pakkit said:
Ugh, 2 WiiWare games a week is killin' my buzz.

Remember back when Nintendo's PR said that developers could choose their prices (read: they can't), and release to WiiWare whenever (read: they also can't)? REMEMBER.

Also, could someone enlighten me on why I should be excited about Toki Tori? It's hard to reach your levels of heightened arousal when all I see is some duck thing running around laying eggs.
Click to expand...

If you honestly expected more than 2 WiiWare games a week consistently then you deserve to have your buzz killed. If they were able to hold to two a week then that would be quite impressive as XBLA isn't even able to do that sometimes.

As far as releasing to WiiWare whenever...that's true to a point, still. They did say from the beginning that they only wanted to allow companies to release one game a month to curb companies from releasing crappy games weekly for quick profit.
 
XBLA didn't have these many games (supposedly somewhere in the 100 range) waiting in this magical queue to be released by Nintendo. What if, hypothetically, Gyrostarr doesn't get released for weeks or months to come, leaving High Voltage Games with only their mediocre Black Jack to bank off of? It seems mildly cruel to developers for this supposedly "indie-loving" business model.
 
pakkit said:
XBLA didn't have these many games (supposedly somewhere in the 100 range) waiting in this magical queue to be released by Nintendo. What if, hypothetically, Gyrostarr doesn't get released for weeks or months to come, leaving High Voltage Games with only their mediocre Black Jack to bank off of? It seems mildly cruel to developers for this supposedly "indie-loving" business model.
Click to expand...

Suppose Gyrostarr comes out next week, alongside Pokemon Ranch and Dr. Mario. Pretty much nobody is going to buy Gyrostarr, instead opting for the other ones which will set them back 2000 points.

It seems mildly cruel to developers ;P
 
pakkit said:
XBLA didn't have these many games (supposedly somewhere in the 100 range) waiting in this magical queue to be released by Nintendo. What if, hypothetically, Gyrostarr doesn't get released for weeks or months to come, leaving High Voltage Games with only their mediocre Black Jack to bank off of? It seems mildly cruel to developers for this supposedly "indie-loving" business model.
Click to expand...

You misconstrued what was said.

100 games were announced in development for WiiWare. Not finished.

We really don't have a clear understanding of how games are released at this point.

Either way people like you wouldn't be happy. They may be in a position to release 5 games a week all summer, but then have nothing left for the rest of the year. Releases from all companies are staggered for practical and fiscal reasons.
 
batbeg said:
Suppose Gyrostarr comes out next week, alongside Pokemon Ranch and Dr. Mario. Pretty much nobody is going to buy Gyrostarr, instead opting for the other ones which will set them back 2000 points.

It seems mildly cruel to developers ;P
Click to expand...

Just like VC downloads, sales would continue over a longer time before petering out, making who the initial release surrounds much less important than regular releases.

I could've sworn I read somewhere that 100 titles were ready for the launch window, but color me corrected if I'm wrong.

AugustDivision said:
...for practical and fiscal reasons
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We can't really know that for sure, if US VC releases is any indication, who KNOWS why Nintendo does things the way they do? I just know that I'd be pissed if a game was ready and staggered releases held it back for months to come.
 
pakkit said:
I could've sworn I read somewhere that 100 titles were ready for the launch window, but color me corrected if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

“We’ve already received proposals for over 100 titles from software development companies. We’ve made a platform for developing software at low cost, and would like to offer a new business chance based around a battle of ideas.” - Satoru Iwata

http://wii.ign.com/articles/826/826171p1.html
 
That is an old quote. I remember too that someone in this thread perhaps quoted something about a whole lot of games that where supposedly ready for launch (window) releases.
 
AugustDivision said:
Chris,

Did Konami or Hudson confirm anything about Nintendo's plans as far as release schedule in general? As in, is Nintendo shooting to release two WiiWare games every Monday?
Click to expand...
The only thing I heard was that there were two games scheduled for this week -- nothing in a general sense.

Looking at what Nintendo of America has done in the past, though, I wouldn't be surprised if there are only like three games per week total between WiiWare and VC. I'd love to be proven wrong on Monday, but.
 
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