Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!!!

Stocking Stuffers
Gifts 1
Gifts 2

What I got:

Stocking Stuffers
Pens
Pocky Chocolate Candy
Pocky Strawberry Candy
Hot Wheels Cars
Reeses Chocolates
Botan Rice Candy

Gifts
Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)
Wii Speak Peripheral (Wii)
De Blob (Wii)
Tatsunoko VS Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes (Wii Import)
Let's Tap (Wii Import)
The World Ends With You (DS)
Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS)
Sony Car Stereo
Ghost Hunt anime part I
Ghost Hunt anime part II

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Nintendo's Early 2009 Release List

New Releases Also Include New Play Control! Pikmin and Mario Power Tennis for Wii, Fire Emblem for Nintendo DS

REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 17, 2008 – Continuing its commitment to create fun and engaging experiences for everyone, Nintendo of America Inc. today unleashes a broad list of exciting new games for the first quarter of 2009. Topping the list is Pokémon™ Platinum version for Nintendo DS™, a remarkable new entry in the beloved Pokémon series, slated for a March 22 launch across North America. Nintendo's roster of more than 100 new games includes an impressive array of challenges and experiences for new players and loyalists, as well as everyone in between. Notable titles include the enhanced New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis™ and New Play Control! Pikmin™ for Wii™, and Fire Emblem™: Shadow Dragon, Personal Trainer™: Math and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for Nintendo DS.

"Our fans expect a diverse selection of entertainment options, and we're eager to deliver exactly that," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "We're building on the momentum of a strong holiday season by offering new and experienced players an even greater library of game titles in 2009."

Pokémon fans in particular will have plenty to cheer about as Pokémon Platinum is readied for its U.S. debut. Following the vast popularity of Pokémon® Diamond and Pokémon Pearl, Pokémon Platinum is the newest in the core series of Pokémon games. Pokémon Platinum features a new story full of adventure, never-before-seen forms of powerful Pokémon – including the legendary Giratina's Origin Forme – and the Distortion World, a mysterious new world that suddenly appears in the Sinnoh region. In addition, with Pokémon Platinum up to 20 players can interact with other Pokémon fans from around the world in the new Wi-Fi Plaza, featuring mini-games and activities. Players can also enjoy the new features in the Global Terminal, such as posting battle videos using the new "Vs. Recorder." In addition, Pokémon Platinum features a new Battle Frontier, where the toughest Trainers can test their skills in new ways. Pokémon Platinum already has broken previous Nintendo DS sales records in Japan, selling more than 1 million copies in its first two days of release.

For the portable Nintendo DS, Personal Trainer: Math builds on the new Personal Trainer™ series, which launched with Personal Trainer™: Cooking, now extends its reach beyond the stomach to the brain. Personal Trainer: Math introduces 40 fast-paced exercises to give players a fun way to improve their arithmetic skills. The Personal Trainer series is designed to help users enrich their lives and learn new skills in fun and interesting ways. Also for Nintendo DS, fans of the Fire Emblem franchise will enjoy the arrival of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, a revamped and re-imagined version of the NES™ classic, featuring touch-screen controls. Players with a broadband Internet connection can enjoy worldwide battles over Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo's online gaming service.

Meanwhile, for the Wii console, Nintendo is offering up two classic Nintendo GameCube™ games: New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis and New Play Control! Pikmin enhanced for play using the Wii Remote™ controller. The enhanced New Play Control! Pikmin game lets players point the Wii Remote controller at the screen and use it as a cursor, making it easy to select either a single Pikmin or an entire army. When a player tosses Pikmin, they fly wherever the cursor is pointing. New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis lets players enjoy an afternoon on the court as their favorite characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, complete with motion-controlled serves and swings. With Wii controls, players can swing the Wii Remote controller to hit forehands and backhands and to apply spin. Experienced gamers can also attach a Nunchuk™ controller for additional precision. Both games are scheduled to launch next March.

Third-party publishers continue to bring diverse, creative games like FINAL FANTASY® CRYSTAL CHRONICLES®: Echoes of Time™ from Square-Enix for Wii and Nintendo DS. These games offer unique features that allow users to play multiplayer across Nintendo platforms. MADWORLD™ from Sega will be available exclusively for Wii, and the highly acclaimed franchise Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars from Rockstar Games will be available for Nintendo DS.

Below is a partial list of upcoming games for Wii and Nintendo DS. Note that game titles and launch dates are subject to change.

Wii

Activision
Monsters vs. Aliens - March 24

Crave Entertainment
Monster Pals™ - March
Solitaire & Mahjong - February
Puzzle Challenges and More! - February
Crayola Colorful World - March

D3Publisher
Onechanbara™ Bikini Zombie Slayers™ - February
Coraline - January

Destineer
WordJong Party - January
Battle Rage - February
Cradle of Rome - February
Cate West: The Vanishing Files - March
Burger Island - March

Disney Interactive Studios
Disney Sing It: High School Musical 3: Senior Year - Winter

DreamCatcher
Play the World - March

Electronic Arts
NASCAR® Kart Racing - Feb. 10
SimAnimals™ - Jan. 27
TRIVIAL PURSUIT - Early spring

Hudson Entertainment
FISHING MASTER WORLD TOUR - Jan. 6
Marble Saga Kororinpa™ - Spring

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
DanceDanceRevolution® Disney Grooves - March

Majesco Entertainment
Escape the Museum - January
Major Minor's Majestic March - March

Marvelous Entertainment USA
Little King's Story
- Feb. 17
Rune Factory: Frontier - March

Mastiff
Deer Drive™ - Jan. 20

NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.
We Ski™ and Snowboard - March

Nintendo
New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis™ - March
New Play Control! Pikmin™ - March

Sega
The House of The Dead: Overkill™ - February
SONIC™ and the Black Knight - March
MADWORLD™ - March

Southpeak Interactive
Roogoo Twisted Towers™ - Feb. 17
Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball™ - March 17
Brave: A Warrior's Tale™ - Feb. 17

THQ
Paws & Claws Pet Resort - Jan. 5
Neighborhood Games - Jan. 5

Ubisoft
Tenchu™: Shadow Assassins - February
Broken Sword™: Shadows of the Templars (Director's Cut) - March

XS Games
Super PickUps™ - Q1

Nintendo DS

Activision
Monsters vs. Aliens - March 24
Pimp My Ride 2™ - March 24
Animal Planet™ - March 10

Atlus U.S.A., Inc.
My World, My Way™ - Feb. 3
Legacy of Ys™: Books I & II - Feb. 10
Trackmania™ DS - March 17

Crave Entertainment
Monster Pals ™ - March

D3Publisher of America
Puzzle Quest™: Galactrix™ - Q1
Coraline - January

Destineer
USA TODAY Puzzle Craze - January
DinoPets - March

Disney Interactive Studios
Phineas and Ferb - Winter

DreamCatcher
Inkheart - January
Learn Math - January
Drivers' Ed Portable - January
Monster Band - January
Zoo Quest - February
My Personal Diary - February
Music Star: Pop Star - February
Paint by DS - March
Matchstick - March
Dreamer: Top Model - March
Sarah - Keeper of the Unicorn - March
Learn Chess - March
Dragon Master - April

Electronic Arts
Zubo™ - March
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure™ - Q1
SimAnimals™ - Jan. 27

Empire Interactive
Jagged Alliance - Feb. 17

Gameloft
American Popstar - Road to Celebrity - March 9

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero™ - Q1
Suikoden Tierkreis - Q1
Little Magician's Magic Adventure™ - Q1

Majesco Entertainment
WonderWorld Amusement Park™ - January
Powerbike - January
Our House™ - Q1
Hot 'n' Cold - March

Marvelous Entertainment USA
Avalon Code - February
Flower, Sun, and Rain - March

Mastiff
Moon™ - Jan. 13

MumboJumbo
Chicken Hunter Star Karts - March 10

Nintendo
Personal Trainer™: Math - Jan. 12
Fire Emblem™: Shadow Dragon - Feb. 16
Pokémon™ Platinum version - March 22

ROCKSTAR GAMES
Grand Theft Auto™: Chinatown Wars - Winter

Southpeak Interactive
Big Bang Mini® - Jan. 6
Roogoo Attack™ - Feb. 17
Brave: Shaman's Challenge™ - Feb. 17

Square Enix, Inc.
FINAL FANTASY® CRYSTAL CHRONICLES®: Echoes of Time™ - Spring

THE GAME FACTORY
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES™ - Jan. 19

THQ
Paws & Claws Pampered Pets - Jan. 5

TOMY Corporation
My DoItAll™ - February

Ubisoft
Jake Power Fireman - January
Jake Power Policeman - January
Imagine™ Cheerleader - February
JoJo's Fashion Show - February
Petz® Horseshoe Ranch - February
Imagine™ Family Doctor - February
Imagine™ Ice Champions - March
Jake Power Handyman - March
My Fashion Studio Paris Collection - Feb. 17
American Popstar - Road to Celebrity - March 24
Broken Sword™: Shadows of the Templars (Director's Cut) - March

XSEED Games
Retro Game Challenge - Jan. 6

For more information about Nintendo games, visit www.Nintendo.com.

Well, that is certainly a big list. Anyone notice the lack of Disaster: Day of Crisis, Sin & Punishment 2, Punch-Out!!, Mario and Luigi 3, and Rhythm Heaven. I mean seriously Nintendo, wtf is wrong with you? No Wii games besides GC Wiimakes...

They could and should release Disaster Day of Crisis since the game has been finished and released everywhere except North America...it's not fair. Why should I have to import something that is already in English elsewhere, just release it in my territory. While I am criticizing Nintendo's list, there are games I'm looking forward to anyway, those would be:

The House of The Dead: Overkill™ - February
SONIC™ and the Black Knight - March
MADWORLD™ - March
Tenchu™: Shadow Assassins - February
My World, My Way™
- Feb. 3
Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero™ - Q1
Avalon Code - February
Flower, Sun, and Rain - March
Fire Emblem™: Shadow Dragon
- Feb. 16
Pokémon™ Platinum version - March 22
Retro Game Challenge - Jan. 6

Plus I have Captain Rainbow, Tatsunoko VS Capcom, Let's Tap, Animal Crossing: CF, and The World Ends With You to play, as well as my gigantic backlog of games I have already...

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Shaymin Revealed

Well Shaymin was officially just revealed on Pokemon.com. The only information we get is basically it's ability and it's signature move. That is the image below as proof, just in case they take it down.

Hopefully the release date for Giratina and the Sky Warrior as well as when we can get Shaymin will all be revealed soon!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Wii and Nintendo DS Set Historic New U.S. Sales Records

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– With more than 3.6 million combined systems sold in November, Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ set new hardware sales records, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. The Wii console sold more than 2 million in November, a new all-time record for a non-December month. The Nintendo DS system sold more than 1.56 million in November, which is now the second-highest total for a non-December month in history. The Wii console has sold 15.4 million in the United States since it launched in November 2006, and Nintendo DS has sold nearly 24.6 million in the United States since it launched in November 2004.

“Nintendo’s record-breaking sales demonstrate that consumers are looking for the best value not only among video games, but also among all entertainment options,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Shoppers are looking for gifts that can be enjoyed by the whole family, and Nintendo provides an incomparable range of experiences that gets the whole family involved.”

Four games made for Nintendo systems placed in the top 10 U.S. best-sellers for November, representing the diversity of people who play Nintendo games. These included Wii Play™ (for casual and lapsed players) at No. 3 with more than 796,000 sold, Wii Fit™ (for new gamers) at No. 4 with more than 697,000 sold, Mario Kart™ Wii (for both core and casual payers) at No. 5 with nearly 637,000 sold and Wii Music™ (for everyone) placed at No. 9 with more than 297,000 sold, following its long-tail trend.

Looking at the industry as a whole, Nintendo products continue to fuel the engine of the video game industry. In November alone, Nintendo represented 198 percent of industry growth over 2007. Nintendo systems represented 66 percent of all hardware sales in November, including 59 percent of all console sales and 79 percent of all portable hardware sales.

For more information about Nintendo, visit www.Nintendo.com.

I know most everyone doesn't care about sales numbers, but I really wanted to point out how Nintendo is hypocritical. They say they don't generalize their games into categories like "core, hardcore, casual" yet look at their press release. I mean this is exciting that Nintendo is number 1 (but they have been for a while), so hopefully we keep seeing some great "hardcore" games in the future.

I think Nintendo provides enough for both crowds, but they should've released Disaster: Day of Crisis as their "hardcore" game during Fall 2008. Wii Music & Animal Crossing aren't hardcore...

Oh well guess I'm a hypocrite, I already said I love Nintendo today yet now I'm criticizing them, lol.

Personal Trainer: Walking to Europe as Walk With Me!

11 December 2008 – Put a spring in your step and help to enrich your life in 2009 with the fun new Nintendo DS software Walk with me! Do you know your walking routine? set to launch across Europe on 20 February.

A good active walking routine is recognised as an important part of a balanced and healthy lifestyle. Now Nintendo’s Walk with me! can help you to get in tune with your personal walking regime, compare it with friends, family or even your pet, and see how you compare to walkers across the globe!

This latest lifestyle software designed exclusively for the Nintendo DS comes with two specially designed pedometers called Activity Meters which measure your daily steps minute by minute.

Slim and convenient, the Activity Meter will fit into your bag or pocket as you walk and will measure your activity through the day. You can set daily walking targets with a basic setting of 3,000 steps which can be increased each day to suit your activity levels.

The data is collected and stored on the Activity Meter for up to seven days and can be easily transferred to your Nintendo DS, so you can track your progress. Simply point the Activity Meter at the Nintendo DS like a TV remote control and with one click of the button on the meter, your data will be sent by infrared signal.

With the ability to store data for up to four users, you can compare your activity with other members of your family or friends– even ranking yourself against the family dog!

Walk with me! also offers a variety of fun mini-games to help motivate you to walk. You can use your collected steps to unlock trivia, create images and find out how much electrical energy your walking would have generated for the day.

Using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, users send their step data to compare with people all over the world and there are two other great ways of bringing your walking routine to life and sharing the fun.

Space Journey

You can post your own step data to combine it with users around the world and create a world step count. This is then used to plot a virtual walk across the solar system. The distance between planets has been calculated in steps and you will see graphically how you and other world users are doing on your journey through space.

World Ranking

Every Sunday the walking rankings for all users will be updated on a global scale with an interim ranking every day covering total steps, highest step count in the world and the previous week’s step count.

Anyone who then updates their game will be able to view the world’s top ranked players and how far they have walked.

Walk with me! is easy to use and will bring fun to your daily walking routine helping you in your journey to a healthier lifestyle. Step on up and get your copy now!

Walk with me! Do you know your walking routine? launches across Europe on 20 February 2009.

Can't say I'm really surprised, we know it's coming to the US under the title Personal Trainer: Walking, which will join Cooking, as well as Math in the next coming months. Nintendo is really pushing this stuff, I don't know if I would buy into this. Like I need a game to tell me how active I am, oh wait I have Wii Fit for that...

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series To Be Continued

It turns out that the latest issue of Coro Coro will reveal a new entry in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. I'm actually not entirely surprised since the Mystery Dungeon games seem to do well around the world with Pokémon branding the front. I actually find them quite enjoyable sometimes, though sometimes I find them annoying... Anyway, here is the image that states this information:

ポケモン不思議のダンジョン <---this part says "Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon" which means "Mysterious Dungeon" I bet we'll probably see a Ranger 3 and maybe a new Pokémon game for Wii after the fact. The DS is set to be around for a long time. It's been around for 4 years, it may very well be around for 4 more years ^_^

I love you Nintendo!!!

Sands of Destruction Announced by SEGA

SEGA ANNOUNCES UPCOMING U.S. RELEASE OF SANDS OF DESTRUCTION ON NINTENDO DS

Splendid visuals, fascinating characters and a high-powered battle system to be featured in the next epic Japanese RPG experience

SAN FRANCISCO (December 4, 2008) – SEGA® of America, Inc. announced today that the exclusive Nintendo DS™ title, Sands of Destruction™, will be releasing in North America. Critically acclaimed in Japan and gaining recognition through the television anime World Destruction: Sekai Bokumetsu no Rokuni™, gamers will experience an action-packed story featuring a unique range of characters, a gorgeous artistic atmosphere and an intense RPG battle system.

“We are very excited to bring this original RPG to the U.S.,” states Yoichi Shimosato, producer of Sands of Destruction. “Our very talented team is eager to showcase the unique world and gameplay experience of Sands of Destruction and they firmly believe we have created an RPG world that can be enjoyed by everyone.”

In Sands of Destruction, a race of powerful beastmen known as the Ferals rule over the human population with tyranny and prejudice. A group of warriors, the World Annihilation Front, believe their only option for ending the corruption of the Ferals is to end the world as they know it. This intense game puts gamers in control of an intriguing cast of characters including the crusading Morte Ashera as well as Kyrie Illunis, who unknowingly holds the key to global destruction. Gamers will explore a fantastic world, traveling across oceans of sand, battling colossal enemy monsters and unraveling the mystery of the creation of the world.

”SEGA is excited to be bringing this innovative, engaging IP to Nintendo DS,” states Sean Ratcliffe, Vice President of Marketing for SEGA of America, Inc. “With the incredible talent and vision of the development team, Sands of Destruction promises to deliver the next epic RPG experience to gamers everywhere.”

Featuring an all-star team of Japanese RPG developers, Sands of Destruction utilizes the upper and lower DS screens for its dynamic battle system, including major boss battles where elite monsters take up both DS screens. Mixing traditional turn-based tactics with fighting game mechanics to create an intense gameplay experience, Sands of Destruction also features an innovative “Quip system” where characters utter inspiring battle commands that enhance abilities and boost attributes to give them various advantages during battle. As the story unfolds new battle commands will be discovered and gamers will be able to customize the different commands to each character.

Sands of Destruction will be released in fall 2009, exclusively for Nintendo DS™

I am actually very excited for this game. But seriously, Fall 2009? Why would it take another year for the game to come out? Come on now SEGA, Nintendo doesn't take a whole year to get games out...anymore at least. Give this to us early next year please :)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Dragon Quest 10 for Wii

Dragon Quest X was just announced for the Wii at the Dragon Quest event in Japan. Here is the Japanese live-blog of the show here.

The following text announces Dragon Quest X:

「次のドラゴンクエスト10はWii」と思わず堀井 雄二氏がもらしてしまいました。「まずはドラゴンクエスト9をよろしくね!」だそうです。
“Wii moat well Yuji leaked the following dragon QUEST 10” unintentionally. Don't you think? “dragon QUEST 9 to be possible first!”It probably will put out, is.

I know machine translation fails, but this is on a Japanese live-blog so it must be true.

Pokémon Platinum & Fire Emblem Release Date?

Overnight, Circuit City.com revealed a page for Pokémon Platinum, with a specific release date of March 22nd, 2009. The page has since been removed, so the game may very well be coming out then. Here is the image below:


Pluto is known as "Charon", Handsome is known as "Looker", and the Torn World is known as the "Distortion World". I don't understand why they would change Pluto's name in the US as Pluto is a Galaxy admin. I am so excited, I can't wait to play this game. I hope the release date ends up being true.

Update: They can't use Pluto as a character name because of the Disney character having the name trademarked back in 1930. It really sucks, though Charon is the name of one of Pluto's moons.

Circuit City also has a page up for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, complete with boxart and a release date of February 23rd, 2009. It's starting to make the Pokémon date look more likely, and this sounds very likely as well. All we need to know is what game for DS that might be released in January. I have a feeling it could be Rhythm Heaven, since Mario & Luigi RPG 3 isn't even out in Japan yet.

Tatsunoko VS Capcom Intro

As you can tell I love this game, but I'm buying it for my brother, not myself. I can always import it later when it falls in price or something. Anyways, here is the opening for the game below:

Friday, December 5, 2008

Backlogs


If you are a gamer, than you probably have a backlog.

A backlog is basically games you haven't played until completion. Getting to the credits simply means you have beaten a game. But to complete it, it means unlocking all the extra characters/modes/stages and finishing them all. Mastering is where you get perfect ranks/scores on each stage/mode you are playing.

I myself have a huge backlog of games that I haven't even made it to the title screen in. I basically got caught up in each new game that was coming out and then ignored the ones I had already in my possession. I am what you call a Gaming Shopaholic. I buy all the cool games that come out (for DS/Wii) even when I'm not finished with my old games, which led to my backlog.

Recently I was directed to a site called The Backloggery. This site lets you add your games for each system to help you keep track of what is Unfinished, Beaten, Complete, or Mastered. Most people won't have any mastered games, but many people will have Complete.

The Backloggery also has a random game generator for whatever game you might want to play. Recently I used it and it brought up Minicopter: Adventure Flight. The toy RC copter game is actually a budget title, and thus very short. So I went back to play it tonight and I just Beat the game. I didn't Complete it though, as there were Treasure stages I didn't finish and ofcourse I haven't collected all of the different RC helicopters.

So do you have a backlog? If so, how many games are in it?

Thursday, December 4, 2008

World Destruction coming to US as Sands of Destruction

Apparently a NeoGAF member was browsing Sega's FTP site and came across a game called Sands of Destruction. Said member clicked on it and up came image links, and they turned out to be English screenshots of World Destruction. That pretty much tells you right there that the game is coming to the US.

However since anyone can edit images, I'm going to mark this as a rumor for now, but I'm sure it's real anyway. Siliconera and Nintendo Power have both stated the game is headed stateside, with the former saying that there are going to be numerous changes to the English version.


You can checkout the topic that spreaded this news here.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Let's Tap Trailer


I am really considering importing this game. I have no idea if SEGA will bother releasing the game in the US, and it looks really fun for a mini-game like collection. Also, the music is just awesome! Plus it's only $50 to import it, but if SEGA brings it to the US after I imported it, it's going to make me angry. It is however an awesome game though!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Fatal Frame IV is coming to Europe & America


This comes from the latest edition of Official Nintendo Magazine in the UK. The game is set for a February 6th release according to Play.com (UK site), while ONM says the game will be out in February, which makes it more likely that it will be released.

Also, if you think it is fake, than you are wrong. In Japan the series is called "Zero" and in Europe it is called "Project Zero", but it seems that they are relaunching the series as Fatal Frame in Europe starting with the latest game in the franchise.

In another story, XSEED Games is a publisher in the US who is releasing a bunch of Marvelous games. They recently posted on their website for gamers to email them about what they should localize for US release. One of the most requested games was Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse for Wii. XSEED confirmed that the game is already being published for the US by another publisher, here is that email.

Hi Andrew,

If you're talking about Fatal Frame 4 for the Wii then it's coming to the US, even though it won't be by us.

Can't tell you who's bringing it over, but keep your eyes peeled for an official announcement, hopefully sometime soon.

Ken @ XSEED Games
Fatal Frame IV is considered a "hardcore" game by the gaming community, so hopefully Nintendo of America will reveal it soon. JC Rodrigo of Nintendo Treehouse localization team said they were localizing a game for Wii, while initial thoughts pointed to Captain Rainbow, it sounds like they might be bringing Fatal Frame IV to the US.

At first I couldn't really care about the game, but since I am one of those people looking for more hardcore games (even though I bought Wii Fit & Wii Music), so I will definitely be picking this up if and when it hits the US!

Image Link: Imageshack

Pokémon Ranger 2 New Wi-Fi Mission


The newest Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia download mission is now available through Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. The mission will appear under your Ranger Net menu after you have downloaded it. It is called "Liberate the Tower!" and allows you to catch a Darkrai to send over to Diamond/Pearl. The mission will be available until January 30, 2009, so hurry up and get it!


Darkrai
Level: 50
OT: Almia
Attacks: Dark Void, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Double Team

Wii-kly Update 12/01/2008

WiiWare

SPACE INVADERS GET EVEN (Taito, 1 player, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Cartoon Violence, 500 Wii Points): The Space Invaders are back, and this time they're out to get even. Take control of a UFO and make those Earthlings pay by unleashing your fleet of heroic invaders against their puny tanks, fighter jets and artillery-but watch out for the massive boss awaiting you at the end of each stage. Use your invaders' five attack types and the might of the mother ship to rack up high scores, then upload them via Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection and see where you stand in the global rankings.

Pit Crew Panic! (Hudson Entertainment, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone, 800 Wii Points): Pit Crew Panic! is a frantic, action-packed game that unfolds on the racing circuit. During the game, the pit crew is not only faced with repairing vehicles, but also various WHATSITs. Handling the WHATSIT repairs is a pit crew made up of legendary beauties. The controls are simple: Just grab a member of the crew with the Wii Remote™ controller's A Button, then release the button when the Pointer is over the damaged PART, and that crew member will begin repairs. Assign repairs to the members of your team and provide support using the Wii Remote to send a fully repaired WHATSIT out of the pit as quickly as you can. The game features Normal mode, which can be played using one of two rules: Abnormal mode (players split into two teams and compete against each other) and Ranking mode (compete with players around the world for the top record). Each mode can be played with a maximum of four Wii Remote controllers, allowing you to team up with friends and family. Your teamwork could lead to outstanding records.

Virtual Console

METAL SLUG 2 (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated T for Teen-Blood and Gore, Violence, 900 Wii Points): Released in 1998 by SNK, METAL SLUG 2 is a side-scrolling military-action game. Players choose from Marco, Tarma, Eri and Fio, setting their sights on wiping out Morden's newly remobilized Rebellion Army. Just like the original METAL SLUG, players blaze a trail by shooting and jumping, but METAL SLUG 2 adds a new arsenal for you to command, including a heavy machine gun, a shotgun and even a laser gun, providing players with rich variety. Battle effects are packed in, as well-players turn into mummies after getting caught in poison gas coughed up by mummies. After picking up too many food items, characters turn fat, but they get an attack-strength upgrade. Two-player action is supported, too, so players can have a blast with their friends.