With some rumors floating around about a Wii 2, there has naturally been speculation about what the next generation of Nintendo’s console will look like. Here are my thoughts about what Nintendo is probably considering in design

More Competitive Processor:

The gamers don’t care, they don’t see any limitation and we’re loving the low price. But it has been hard to get third party developers to take the Wii seriously with so little power. Developers want to make the next big bad beautiful game and the Wii just doesn’t seem powerful enough to break any molds. Instead of top of the line stuff, third party developers have been dumping drivel for the Wii, and that has made the average rating of Wii games significantly lower than the other consoles.

I’ve got some news for those developers, the Nintendo Wii has had two games so far with unheard of rating, over 97% according to Game Rankings — Super Smash Bros Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy. The Xbox 360 and the Playstation on the other hand have had a total of zero titles in that category. The Wii is big, bad and beautiful, and developers need to realize that the gold standard in gaming if no longer in how many triangles you can show a second. In fact, there has only been one other game ever — The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64 — to get such high ratings.

On the other hand, 36% off all Wii titles have failed (gotten a average rating under 60%), while only 23% of Xbox 360 games have failed and only 15% of PS3 games. Why are developers unloading worthless junk onto the Wii? Because they don’t think the Wii is ‘powerful’ enough for Read more »

OK, so somehow, despite the endless possibilities, you’re board of the Wiimote and the Nunchuk. Well no problem, Nintendo is way ahead of you and you’ve got quite a few options.

The Classic Controller:

The Classic Controller is just that, a traditional gaming controller. Its cord (which comes from the bottom) connects to the expansion port of the Wiimote. It was made specifically for Virtual Console games, but nothing is stopping normal Wii games from using it. For some reason, you can’t use it to play old GameCube games. For those you have to have an actual GameCube controller (which hooks to the top of the Wii).

There is a mysterious square port in the back of the controller whose function has yet to be revealed. It has been speculated that the port will attach to the Wimote, giving it motion sensitivity. If that were the case, the Classic Controller would become almost the same thing as the Sony Sixaxis controller. This sound cool to me, so I hope it is the case. If it were, possible game developers would find it easier to port between the two systems.

In any case, not all our other options are this traditional.

The Wii Zapper:

This is a gun attachment for both the Wiimote and the Nunchuk. The Wiimote fits on top of the barrel area, and the Nunchuk fits into a back handle. The trigger of the gun replaces the normal “B” trigger on the back of the Wiimote.

The gun is not like the old Nintendo Duck Hunt gun, which could somehow actually see where you were pointing (of course it could be easily tricked). So in order to have real ‘line of site’ capabilities, you have to calibrate the gun in the game. The calibration process is usually fairly error proof and once you’ve done it, it has quite a smooth feel and leads to very natural game play. For me, there is a little bit of confusion about whether to put my right or left hand forward, but I find I like pulling the trigger with my right hand, which is how I normally hold the Wiimote and Nunchuk anyway.

So far, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicle, Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 and Ghost Squad and Links Crossbow Training have been designed for use with the Wii Zapper, but it isn’t required for any of them.

The Wii Wheel:

This isn’t out yet, but it is a simple steering wheel with the Wiimote smack in the center. There is a button on the for the trigger. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to use it so I don’t know how intuitive it’ll be. I have some fundamental question about how the controls will work that just haven’t been answered, first among them: “Will this really add to game play?” I guess we’ll find out, but until then, we can speculate about how much use it’ll be.

Third Part Accessories:

A ton a third party accessories have been released, but most of them are just shells, and do not add any functionality. From swords and shields for Zelda to golf clubs for Wii Sports, it is clear that the possibilities of the Wiimote are still being explored. During this experimentation phase, we’re going to have a lot of failed designs and a lot of failed game control schemes. But once a more unified theme starts emerging, I think the potential for games everywhere will be much higher.

For those of you that have been living under a rock for the last few years, Spore is Will Wright’s (creator of The Sims) new game. Spore is absolutely epic in scope and nature. The player starts off as a microorganism, and evolves into a fully fleshed creature that you can create from scratch to look almost any way you want. But it doesn’t stop there. After you have developed and evolved your creature, you go on to lead multiples of them in a tribe, and then advance to control of an entire civilization, and finally explore and battle in the riches of space. Epic? Oh yeah. This is the one game I’ve been looking forward to more than I thought possible.

And yes, it is confirmed, some type of spin off is coming to the Wii. We don’t have any news as to whether it’ll just be some stupid knock off or whether it’ll be the full blown thing, but we know it is coming. Should we worry that they are calling it a ’spin off’ and not a port? I think it might be a good thing. The Spore team is saying that they are building everything from the ground up to take advantage of the Wiimote. This sounds like good news to me. The Wii needs games made for the Wii, not just ports of games you can play on any console.

So, maybe we’ll have a Spore themed collection of mini-games and they’ll suck. I prefer to be optimistic and think we’ll have Wiispore, a perfect combination of the most creative console ever and the most create game ever. I think it’ll be a long time before we find out though. Spore is scheduled for release on September 7th and I’m sure they won’t even be giving the Wii version serious time until after that. In any case, I’ll be watching for development with my fingers crossed.

Will Wright, creator or Spore has given praise to the Wii console in the past. He has said that while the PS3 and the Xbox 360 seem like they are a step up from their predecessors, the Wii seems like it is a giant leap, not just a step. I feel that he understands the point of the Wii and so I trust that he’ll really take advantage of the medium when he creates his Wii spin off.

If you’ve never heard of Spore before, do yourself a favor and look up some spore videos. It’ll blow your mind. Spore is the most interesting game coming out this year. Period. And news that it’ll be hitting the Wii sooner or later, especially in some customized form, is good news for the Wii. If this is done right, I predict that Wiispore could be the biggest game to hit the Wii.

Square Enix’s new next-gen engine, called Crystal Tools is now compatible with the Wii. This cross compatibility is a good sign for us Wii users. Hopefully this indicates that more game producers are taking the Wii seriously and ready to give us real titles instead of cheap knock offs. On one hand, it is good that Square is including the Wii, but on the other, I hope they realize that in order for a game to be really enjoyable on the Wii, the controls need to take advantage of motion detection to the fullest.

The first game that will be using the Crystal Tools engine will be FFXIII, but don’t expect that to come out for the Wii anytime soon, this title is 100% PS3, and Sony is hoping it’ll boost sales.

Due to the Wii’s low processing power and the younger user base, many publishers haven’t really given Wii games a good effort. The average rating of Wii games is significantly lower then either the Ps3 or the Xbox 360. It is a crying shame, because the Wiimote has so much to offer and game developers are glossing right over it and heading towards the bigger processors. As a society, I think we are reaching the point of processor saturation. That is to say that the power of are machines are doing everything they can do. Now it is up to the game designers and the graphic artists to take us to the next level. Innovation is becoming more and more important as the catalogue of existing games grows. Soon the developers will catch on, and when they do, they’ll realize that the Wii is the best medium for innovation. Square is hopefully making steps in that direction.

The Wii has really broken game developers normal chain, and while they’re still figuring things out, it has led to many low quality games for the Wii. Producers can’t just port things to the Wii, they have to take into account the unique controls and work them it. Many games would really showcase the Wii’s power just wouldn’t work on other consoles, which makes it hard for developers to justify spending time on them. I think that eventually the market will show reward for games that do take that chance, and then the Wii game market will really bloom.

Until then, we’ve still got some great titles and we’re still shaping the future of the gaming industry. Even though the Wii game’s average rating is lower than either the PS3 or the Xbox 360, the Wii has had more top rated titles (90%+) than either of the others. It just goes to show you that when they are good, they are really good, which is the reason I own a Wii.

Over twenty different mod chips have sprouted up for the Nintendo Wii, all of them attempting to allow you to play backups of your games. Early on, the WiiKey was the most popular, but on newer models of the Wii, the WiiKey no longer works. In its place, two different mod chips have risen to prominence — the Argon and the D2CKEY.

In this article, I’m going to explain the pros and cons between the two, but first, I have to explain what they are trying to accomplish in the first place. Mod chips are a common response to embedded console copy write protection schemes. Ever since consoles started using regular optical discs instead of cartridges, there has been much easier for people to duplicate and pirate games. To combat this, the consoles usualy implement some sort of protection scheme. One common method is to use the early disc data that cannot be burned by normal burners and must be made in factories. To overcome these protection schemes, third-parties will often design a chip, called a mod chip, that connects to the console and changes various sorts of data that it gets. In response, console developers often make more elaborate protection schemes and round and round we go. Modding your Wii will invalidate your warranty, but it is legal. It is also legal to make and play backups of games you own. It is also legal for Nintendo to disable your chip, so keep that in mind.

Currently, the two most popular Wii mod chips are the Argon and the D2CKEY. Both of these chips are for different models of the Wii, so if you want to mod a Wii you already have, the choice is already made for you. If you are buying a premodded though, you’ll probably have a choice between the two.

The Argon, doesn’t have as many features as the D2CKEY. For example, it can’t do backup GameCube games while the D2CKEY can (a recent update has fixed this). Also, the Argon is more picky about what type of DVDs you use. But the Argon is easily programmable, and updates can and have been given to it. Super Mario Galaxy included an update that put almost every mod chip out of commission, but the Argon team had a fix ready to go extra quickly. The update process is a little rough, and requires you to buy some Argon software, but the added safety of knowing that if things go bad someone is there to fix it is great.

The D2CKEY is a lot harder to install, with almost twice as many connections, but the team that created it insists that it is undetectable. They seem pretty certain that there is no way Nintendo can disable it. All talk? Maybe. But the Super Mario Galaxy update that put every other mod chip on the ropes didn’t even touch this one. A lot of people are hesitant about the D2CKEY because it doesn’t have a system implemented for updating it. So if Nintendo did find a way to disable it, everyone might just be out of luck. The D2CKEY team insists that a) Nintendo can’t disable it, so it doesn’t matter and b) even if they somehow managed to, an update system could be set up.

So which should you get? My vote is for the D2CKEY. Cautious people favor the Argon, but history has shown that sooner or later a mod chip will come about that “just works”. To me the D2CKEY looks like that mod chip. Personally, I’d rather go with the chip that has worked perfectly so far than go with the chip that could theoretically be updated to work perfectly. But I guess it is up to you.

Maybe your computer screen is larger than your TV. Maybe your TV is broken. Maybe your like me and don’t even have a TV. Gor whatever reason, you want to play your Wii on your computer screen. No problem — here are the options.

Firstly, we have to know whether you are using a stand alone monitor, or whether you’ve got a computer to go with it. You might not have thought of this, but it is actually going to be easier to run the video through your computer onto the screen. If all you’ve got is the screen and no computer, this is going to become a little more expensive. First I’ll explain how to route it through your computer, which is also useful for taking Wii videos.

First, you’ll want to check if your computer can do this automatically. If you have an s-video in slot on the make of the computer, you are good to go. Note that not all s-video slots are s-video in. Next to the s-video slot there should be a box with an “s” in it and an arrow pointing into the box. Sometimes the arrow isn’t there, but you know you’ve got the wrong thing if the arrow is pointing out of the box. You probably aren’t going to have s-video in capabilities unless you have a pretty high-end graphics card, and even then it is only 50/50. If you are one of the lucky ones, you should have software hiding somewhere to display the input. Plug ‘er in and play.

If you aren’t lucky, there are still many options open for you. If you were thinking of upgrading your video card anyway, this might be a perfect excuse. What you want is a card with s-video VIVO (video-in video-out) capability. A high end video card like this will run you $150-$300. Or, you can get a card designed for TV inputs like the ATI All-in-Wonder, which’ll run you about $100.

OK, so you don’t have that much money, or you can’t upgrade because you’re on a laptop. One fail safe solution is to use USB as your input, every computer has that. Right here is the cheapest s-video to USB converter I’ve found at $40. It comes with software to display the video. Unfortunately, this type of converter is rare, and you aren’t going to find it at your local Radioshack. In fact, the only place I could find it is at the website I just gave. So there you go, Wii on a monitor for forty bucks.

So what if you just have the monitor, no computer. In that case, you’re going to need some type of stand-alone self powered s-video or RCA to VGA adapter. Here is the cheapest I’ve found at $70. You can sometimes find this at a Radioshack, but they usually jack the prick to about $100.

If anyone else out there has come up with any solutions, feel free to comment, and good luck converting.

For those of you who don’t have a Wii, or who do have a Wii and would like to understand their inner workings and know all the options better, I’ve compiled this guide to Wii input. We’ll start with an explanation of the most obvious, and the driving mechanism for most of the system, the Wiimote.

The Wiimote:

The Wiimote, officially called the Wii Remote, is an extraordinary breakthrough in the gaming world. The Wiimote, as any gamer knows, has almost complete motion detection abilities, which really breaks down the barrier between console gaming and arcade gaming. The Wiimote can detect movement in any direction, but can’t directly detect rotation. Instead, it locates the Wii Sensor Bar to figure out where it is pointing. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work when your pointing away from the Bar. Interestingly, the Sensor Bar doesn’t actually sense anything, the Wii Mote does all the sensing.

In comparison to its only motion sensing competitor, the PS3 Sixaxis controlle, it has pluses and minuses. Plus: The Wiimote — through the use of the sensor bar — can automatically detect whether or not you are pointing on the screen, something the Sixaxis controller can’t do without calibration. This makes it easy to use the Wiimote like a virtual mouse. Minus: The Wimote doesn’t actually have full rotational detection like the Sixaxis does, and basically cannot get any rotational functionality if it doesn’t see the Sensor Bar.

One unique feature of the Wiimote is the speaker set in the middle, which allows sound to come out. This, I find, is very useful in multiplayer games. When normally all the sound would be coming from one place, even if it only concerns one person, the Wiimote can deliver indivisualize sounds cues to each player.

The buttons on the Wiimote are simple, one direction pad with an “A” button underneath it and a “B” trigger behind it as well as a “1″ and “2″ button down at the bottom. In the center, there are “-”, “Home” and “+” buttons. And lastly, the Wiimote has a dock on the bottom which can connect to and communicate to various other attachments, including, next up the Nunchuk.

The Nunchuk:

The Wii Nunchuk comes with the Wii, and connects to the Wiimote though its dock. The Nunchuk has motion sensitivity, but no rotational abilities. It has an analog stick and two trigger buttons in the back — “C” and a smaller “Z”. Typically, you would hold the Wiimote in your right hand, and the Nunchuk in you left hand. The possibilities of control between these two devices are endless. Between them you have 13 axis of movement and 9 buttons.

There extra buttons and the analog stick help bring the Wii up to a normal amount of traditional controls. With the non-traditional aspect of motion sensitivity, it isn’t really necessary, but it gives traditional gamers a better feel of control and gives traditional game developers an easier time porting games. But, the movement detectors in the Nunchuk assure Wii fans that Nintendo is serious about taking gaming to the next level.

Unfortunately, few games so far have really taken advantage of the creative possibilities waiting in the Nunchuk. Hopefully developers will get the hang of things soon.

There are many other attachments designed for Wii input, and I’ll be covering the basics of those in a future article.

Some rumors have been flying around lately that the “Wii 2″ or rather a Wii with “memory and graphics upgrades” may be on the market before the expected next-gen date of 2011. Let me explain things a little better. So far, we’ve had a generation of consoles roughly every 5 years. The next expected generation would be around 2011, so news of a “Wii 2″ sooner than that is pretty big stuff. Apparently, the rumors include Mircosoft whispering the same thing about the Xbox.

So, are the rumors true? I don’t know. There is some evidence that it may be a good move, but it might also be a very bad move. One reason why Nintendo and Microsoft might consider pushing their next console release forward is because they don’t want to fall behind technologically. The PS3 is way up there in processing power and can read blue-ray discs that can hold up to 50 gigs of data, as apposed to the modest 9.7 gigs the Wii discs hold. At the moment, that is pricing the PS3 out of a competitive range, but in a few years, people might prefer the cutting edge in technology the PS3 gives them. And after the long Pentium 4 stall, computers are now multiplying their processors at an unprecedented rate. It is very possible that in a few years the Wii will seem to light for “real” gaming, or it might not have the umph to handle big-name game ports.

It is possible, but I don’t think so. If Nintendo or Microsoft released their next console early, it would undermine them a good bit. Everyone would be frustrated that they have to buy a new console only a few years after they got their last one. One of the main reasons people prefer consoles over computer gaming is because they know their console won’t go out of date as fast as a computer would. I think this would be a bod move for either company to make.

So what if, like some rumors suggest, they just put out a more powerful Wii. A “Wii Plus” or something. I don’t think this is going to happen either. People don’t want to have to worry about what version they have and whether it is enough to run a certain game. This is another big reason people prefer consoles over computer gaming, they know that the games they buy will just work. no hassle or upgrades.

Ultimately, holiday 2011 is only three and a half years away, I think they can wait. I think it is part of the Wii philosophy to stand on the strength of the games, not the console, and I don’t think they will go back on that anytime soon. I don’t think Nintendo is going to try and cut in the console generation line. Microsoft might try a move this boneheaded, but I think it will give them a very bad wrap if they do. Consoles have to be compatible and long lasting. It is their one key strength over computer gaming and with computers so prevalent, they need that edge.

Conclusion: This is either one of the stupidest moves in console history, or just a rumor. Don’t hold your breath for the “Wii 2″, or wait off on buying a Wii. The Wii is here to stay for a long while.

A quick peek into the upcoming Wii games for March.

Ninja Reflex (March 4th):

On the surface, this sounds like a simple reflex game, like that old Nintendo gun slinger game, or the Kirby knockoff. Fun games, simple, quick no story or learning curve, which makes it great for parties. What I’m looking forward to seeing, is what they do to take advantage of the Wiimote. This isn’t going to be a blockbuster or earth moving, but I feel like there is a lot of potential here, I guess we’ll see.

Major League Baseball 2K8 (March 4th):

This one is coming out on multiple platforms, and there isn’t any real news about what they’re doing with the Wii Remote. Reportedly, they’ve had “very little time” on this game. I suspect this will be uninteresting. Doesn’t sound like they can compete with the titles designed for the Wii.

Bully: Scholarship Edition (March 4th):

This is a port of the game Bully for PS2. I haven’t played the PS2 version, but it got high reviews. It takes place in a boarding school, with you as the new kid. Looks like the game has gotten some flak for ’sexual themes’, seems like mild stuff — kissing and flirting, but you might want to keep this to teens.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (March 9th):

Here is this month’s biggy. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is big, and has amazingly good reviews.We have a whole article dedicated to this one right here.

Target: Terror (March 11th):

This one is one of those shooter arcade games. It originally hit arcades in 2004. It’ll be using the Wiimote as a gun, or it has full support for the Wii Zapper. Don’t know what to say, you’ve played the like in arcades, now you can take it home. Target: Terror is themed around terrorist attacks around the country. If you don’t want you kid to be exposed to themes of terrorism, I wouldn’t get them this one. If you want to shoot some terrorists in the kneecaps, go for it.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (March 11th):

This one looks promising. They’ve specially design the control system for the Wii, and it look like it’ll be both exciting and fun. Fairly good reviews make this look like it might be the Wii soccer game. We’ll find out on the 11th.

George of the Jungle (March 11th):

I’ve never understood how the seemingly unpopular George of the Jungle motif keeps coming back, but there you have it. Looks like a typical platform game. This is multi-console, and I haven’t seen any news about what they are doing with Wii input. Looks like it could have some potential but the controls and feel will really be the test. Personally, I don’t have high hopes for this one. These knockoffs usually don’t take the time to make for smooth gameplay.

Octomania (March 11th):

This one looks like a reflex oriented puzzle-like octopus filled game. Apparently, it was in arcades 2006, so maybe it is good. There might be good game play, but there really isn’t enough information to judge its potential.

March 9th. It is only a few days away, and I for one am tingling in excitement. Our Japanese cousins have had it for over a month now, and the reviews are incredible. Famitsu — a Japanese video game magazine — has given it a perfect score. This honor has only been awarded to six other games. Metacritic give it a 98 out of 100 and Game Rankings gives 98.3% (currently the highest ever). It has also gathered perfect scores from Thunderbolt Games, Gameplayer, GamerNode and Nintendo Power, which said that Super Smash Bros. Brawl is “one of the very best games that Nintendo has ever produced”. Whoa. Brawl may be the best rating game in history. Sales in Japan have been through the roof, and I expect on March 9th we could see some records broken.

The game can apparently be played with a Wii remote and and Nunchuk together (but doesn’t have to be). Of course, Nintendo has included online play using the Wi-Fi connection with some type of coin jackpot going to winners. This multiplayer functionality is great and again showcases that Nintendo has learned from its previous mistakes. Without Wi-Fi, the game has multiplayer tournaments and rotation modes that allow for up to 16 players, perfect for parties. As well as the bread and butter multiplayer modes, Brawl features an extensive solo mode, as well as a story based adventure mode.

Brawl also has a stage builder, for players to build their own stages as well as increased rule flexibility in ‘group’ mode. Sonic the Hedgehog, once a no-no in Nintendo world due to high competition between Sega and Nintendo, will be appearing in the game as well as Diddy Kong (from Donkey Kong), Ike (from Fire Emblem), Pit (from Kid Icarus), Wario (from Wario Land) and Solid Snake (from Metal Gear). Not appearing in the game are Young Link, Roy, Pichu, Mewtwo and Dr. Mario.

Brawl was originally suppose to come out for the holidays, but was aggravatingly pushed back further when it was only two weeks away, but from the sounds of it, whatever they were doing with the extra time payed off big. This is another perfect example of the fact that getting games right is more important to gamers than getting them out early. Several companies need to take a leaf out of Nintendo’s book and perfect their games before release.

The graphics look fabulous, and have gotten great reviews. This just goes to show that you don’t need heaps of processors to make a game look nice. Our technology is to the point that what matters most now is the artistic skill, not the tech capabilities. This ushers in a new era in gaming, where focus will be on the games not the console. So far, it looks like Nintendo is the only one that has caught on, but don’t expect that to last forever.

All in all, Super Smash Bros. Brawl sounds exciting, and I can’t wait to get my Wiimote on it.