27 Nov 2012

Wii Mini Announced

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Nintendo’s Wii Mini will cost you $99.99 and will most likely make Nintendo a healthy profit. This red and black box was made for offline Wii games. They stripped out network connectivity and Gamecube backward’s compatibility. And unless there’s a USB or SD card slot somewhere, piracy may be curbed with this box.

There have been some kerfuffles being stirred up over the two key omissions though. Backwards compatibility with the GameCube was already omitted in the more recent revisions of the Wii so that’s just not a valid complaint against the Wii Mini. As for the internet connectivity? When was the last time that you used the Wii’s internet connectivity?

If you omit the Virtual Console and only wish to play Super Mario Galaxy, Legend of Zelda and the Last Story, this isn’t too shabby. I think a $79.99 price tag would make more sense though.

6 Sep 2011

Dragon Quest X Online Announced for Wii & WiiU

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squareenix-logo.gifDragon Quest X Online is coming to the Nintendo Wii. Square Enix is bringing an online game to the Wii and WiiU. It sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Dragon Quest IX was my first Dragon Quest game. I liked it and found it to be an ideal fit for the Nintendo DS.

Would it be an ideal fit as an online game with a subscription fee? I don’t know. Sure? They made Final Fantasy into an online MMO, I don’t see why Dragon Quest wouldn’t work.

But getting it to work and convincing the millions of Japanese fans to hop online for their Dragon Quest fix is an entirely different beast. I wasn’t swayed to go online with Final Fantasy XI or XIV (the latter with very good reason) and I certainly do not see myself paying a fee to play Dragon Quest X Online — especially on the Wii.

There is a WiiU version with no release date, but if Dragon Quest X Online ends up like Final Fantasy XIV Online, I can see that version of the game remaining TBD for quite some time.

3 May 2011

More Wii Successor Details

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nintendo-logoMore rumors concerning the Wii successor (aka Project Cafe) were revealed today.

According to Kotaku, the new Nintendo console will feature the following:

  • 8 GB on-board flash for game saves and content
  • Support 25GB optical discs
  • Backwards compatible with Wii controllers
  • Allow save to SD cards as well
  • Controller will feature a screen
    • Can act a standard controller
    • Display inventory, map or other tertiary information
    • Stream entire game outputs onto the controller within an unspecified range

So far it sounds a bit quirky with the whole screen on controller thing, but everything else doesn’t seem to be out of the realm of possibility. Nintendo loves flash memory and backward’s compatibility with a previous generation’s controller already happened with the Nintendo Wii.

The only real curiosity is whether or not Nintendo will be sporting Blu-ray or their own proprietary 25GB disc.

14 Apr 2011

Rumor: Wii Successor At E3 2011

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nintendo-logoGAF was set a blaze by this thread containing claims of a Wii successor being unveiled at this year’s E3.

It started with GameInformer and before long, IGN, Kotaku and CVG joined the mix with their own tidbits.

Details, unsurprisingly, are scarce. Here’s what they’ve all been saying thus far:

  • More powerful than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
  • Support 1080p resolutions
  • Backwards compatible with Wii software
  • Possible new controller with HD screen built-in
  • Hoping to recapture the “hardcore” audience
  • Targeting 2012 release

So it’ll be more powerful than Sony’s and Microsoft’s current offerings, but how long will that last? How long before the other two reclaim the performance crown? A year or two tops?

I’m excited for the backwards compatibility and hope they’re working on some visual enhancement capabilities. I know that’s asking a lot, but Super Mario Galaxy deserves to be running in HD without the use of an emulator on the PC.

Other than that, I can’t wait to find out more about this successor. In retrospect, I’m also pleased that I didn’t pull the trigger on a second Wii back during Boxing Day 2010.

P.S – Mr. Davison, you were right.

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