Babysitting Mama!!

(Kotaku.com) – I’m not sure what’s more disturbing; the fact that Majesco’s Babysitting Mama has you stuffing your Wii remote into the plush equivalent of a tiny human child, or the fact that it uses the nunchuck as well.

It turns out Majesco is completely serious about Babysitting Mama, the latest profession being taken up by our favorite cooking, gardening, and crafting superstar. Due out this holiday season for the Nintendo Wii, Babysitting Mama features more than 40 different activities, all revolving around a plush baby with a Wii remote stuffed inside of it.

Players will rock the baby, bounce the baby, feed the baby, and change the baby, all the while trying not to stare in horror at the nunchuck cord snaking out from the depths of the baby’s innards.

“The Mama franchise continues to evolve in exciting new ways that offer unique play experiences,” said Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco Entertainment. “With the plush baby as the controller, Babysitting Mama redefines traditional play patterns and combines game and doll in one outstanding collectible package.”

Babysitting Mama will be shown at E3 next month.

Wii Party around the globe!

(Gamespot) – The day after Nintendo reported its first fall in profits in six years, company president Satoru Iwata gave a presentation addressing both the previous year’s earnings and the current year’s release slate. The executive also used the occasion to reveal his company’s next big Wii title, Wii Party.

“As you know, ‘Wii something’ are the titles that we use only with software that Nintendo has developed exclusively for Wii with the aim to make them marquee titles for Wii,” said Iwata. “We are developing this game with the aim to make it a marquee party game for Wii.”

Although some would argue Wii Music and Wii Sports Resorts are well suited for gatherings, Wii Party will be the first first-party game made explicitly for parties on the console since 2007′s Mario Party 8. Iwata revealed that the title has sold over 7.6 million units worldwide to date, nearly 2 million of which were bought in the US.

Iwata said Nintendo is eager to emulate Mario Party 8′s success with Wii Party, commenting that “Since [the] Wii is usually being played by several people at once…a party title has great potential.” However, he was more miserly with details on the game, saying only that its “developers are spending significant time [on] this title so that they can include elements that are must-haves in a party game, as well as making sure that [an] adequate volume of gameplay [is] available.”

One nugget of information Iwata did confirm was that Wii Party will be based on gamers’ Mii avatars. He said that over 160 million Miis have been made in the US, Japan, and in six unnamed European countries. He also said that the success of Tomodachi Collection for the DS, which has sold 3.2 million units in Japan, has also boosted the popularity of Miis in the island nation.

Iwata also unveiled two screenshots from Wii Party, which show Miis balancing in the rigging of a ship and traveling through Central America on a globe. He also said the game would have a Wii Remote-based “Living Party” mode, but did not go into details about what that mode would entail.

Wii stories warrant unrelated pics of Wii Fit Girls - It's just us doing our job!

(Gamasutra) – A Potomac, Maryland-based company is the latest to file suit against Nintendo for patent infringement.

IA Labs, also known as Powergrid Fitness, sued Nintendo’s Japan headquarters and Nintendo of America on April 2, according to a filing obtained by Gamasutra.

IA Labs is accusing Nintendo of infringing on two separate IA Labs patents through technology used in the Nintendo Wii, Wii Fit, Wii Fit Plus, the Wii Balance Board, Wii Remote, Wii Wheel, Wii MotionPlus, Wii Nunchuck and Wii Zapper.

IA Labs said that it has been “irreparably harmed” by Nintendo’s alleged “continued infringement.”

The patents in question are “Computer interactive isometric exercise system and method for operatively interconnecting the exercise system to a computer system for use as a peripheral” and “Force measurement system for an isometric exercise device.”

The claim said that IA Labs had been in contact with Nintendo during 2007-2008, discussing possible overlaps of IA Labs and Nintendo patents. Emails between IA Labs and Nintendo showed that IA Labs wanted to license its technology to Nintendo.

IA Labs was also in talks with Nintendo about a product called Sqweeze, a controller for Wii and PC that’s meant to increase physical activity when gaming.

IA Labs is seeking a court declaration that Nintendo is infringing on the patents, and it’s pursuing an injunction against the alleged infringements in addition to unspecified damages.

Interaction Labs’ founders Greg Merril and Phil Feldman said that their patents were used in IA Labs’ products Kilowatt Sport, the Exer-Station controller, Exer-Station Pro and the PowerSquad Leg Joystick, among others.

The Exer-Station controller, for example, connects to a video game system and provides resistance for a workout while playing any off-the-shelf video game. The Kilowatt Sport had the same full-body workout-plus-games concept. Both won awards at CES in two separate years.

Nintendo recently won an appeal in a suit that accused the game company of infringing on controller-related patents.

Don't froget put on your 3D glasses.

Nintendo reveals 3DS

(Gamespot) – Nintendo has announced a new version of its DS handheld system that will support 3D games. The 3DS will play games with 3D effects “without the need for any special glasses”, according to the Japanese company. It will launch during its coming fiscal year, meaning it could arrive any time between April 2010 and March 2011.

Nintendo describes the system as a successor to the DS series, but it will also play DS and DSi titles. The 3DS is a temporary name according to Nintendo’s perfunctory press release, but more details on the machine will be revealed at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. This year’s show will return to the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 15-17.

Though Nintendo’s official announcement of the 3DS was light on information, additional details on the upcoming handheld appear to have surfaced from Japanese business daily Nikkei. The newspaper’s online edition reports that the 3DS will feature a thumb stick for controlling movement in a 3D plane as well as rumble functionality. The handheld will also reportedly feature greatly enhanced battery life, improved network connectivity, and a screen size that’s smaller than four inches.

Nikkei also narrowed the release window of the 3DS, saying it will arrive during the back half of 2010. However, it is unclear whether that date holds true for Japan alone or the rest of the globe as well. Notably, Nintendo released the DSi XL last November in Japan (where it is known as the LL), and it went on to sell some 700,000 units by year’s end. The system’s Western rollout, however, hasn’t come until this month.

[Full article at Gamespot.com]

Better butter up that rotater cuff for some Wii-Bowing.

(Gamespot) – Two years ago, Koei introduced its historical Japanese action series to the Wii with Samurai Warriors: Katana. However, the first-person on-rails action game deviated from formula, eschewing the third-person hack-and-slash gameplay for which the franchise and its many sibling series had become known.

That game flopped with critics, but now Koei (Tecmo Koei, to be precise) is attempting a more traditional adaptation of Samurai Warriors for the console. Nintendo yesterday announced “a unique partnership” with the publisher to bring the Wii-exclusive Samurai Warriors 3 to North America this fall. The game was released in Japan in December.

Samurai Warriors 3 will forgo the system’s motion controls entirely, instead allowing players to hack through battlefields full of fodder with a Wii Remote-and-Nunchuk combo, the Classic Controller (Pro or “amateur”), or a GameCube pad. Although it seeks to return to the form of previous games in the series, Samurai Warriors 3 will include a handful of new gameplay features, including “kaiden” special moves that go above and beyond the existing “musou” attacks.

BG Note: Nope, we don’t even know what that last sentence means either. Sounds like it could cause a ‘nasty protuberance’ though.

Nintendo Wii Gun Controller

Three-year-old Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan fatally shot herself in the abdomen with the family’s handgun at their home in Wilson County, Tennessee.

The girl’s stepfather had taken out his gun to try to frighten off dogs that had been hanging around the home, and later ‘returned’ the gun to a table in the living room. The child had been playing a Nintendo Wii video game, in which the game’s controller was shaped like a gun that looked very ‘similar’ to the real handgun (hmm like bright white with a cord attached to another controller device?)

County Sheriff says the girl pulled the gun off the table and it went off.

With all condolences to the family, this being a very tragic event, maybe we shouldn’t leave our firearms or Wii controllers in reach of a 3 year old on any, or all occasions. Seems to be the more popular practice now days, understanding that a toddler may not be able to differentiate the two.

The girl’s parents were at home at the time of the shooting. No charges are currently being filed.

[Source]

Iwata

(IGN) Released in 1983, the Nintendo Entertainment System was the king of all-consoles with sales. Today, history has been made and the NES has been knocked down to number two by one of its own: the Nintendo Wii. Though the system has the weakest software sales for a Nintendo console, the Wii itself has sold more than any other console ever. Iwata simply said in words that don’t really seem to be put together as I would say them:

It has replaced NES to become the best-selling Nintendo home videogame console of all time.

While it is the best-selling Nintendo console, it most definitely is not the best that the company has put out for entertainment value. Even the previous console, the Gamecube, had more games to offer to the American and Japanese markets. Now that Nintendo has hit this milestone, will it begin to focus on the software part of their business? They have a new Zelda and Metroid coming out within the next year and a half, but what about first-party series that haven’t been seen on a Nintendo console within the last few years? Castlevania?

Nintendo Entertainment has been keeping it hush hush about their Vitality Sensor games, but they now have something called WiiRelax in development.

Nintendo currently has registered the rights to WiiRelax in the PAL territories. Since the Vitality Sensor is a pulse detecting accessory, it sounds like WiiRelax would work with the upcoming device.

As to what kind of relaxing you’ll be required to do, unless it’s some sort of sports / health related games we can’t seem to dig up. I’m trying to conceive of a game that the object would be for someone to not get excited and not want to maybe shoot thier enemies or teammates.

Maybe some type of meditation exercise or sitting in the middle of my living room saying, “Ohmmmmmmm” over and over till I reduce my beats to under 65 per minute? Perhaps, I could actually see it being more useful in the hentai, erotic gaming lines but I’m sure there would be deaths and lawsuits to follow.

Prior to this trademark, Pub Company, an video developer in Italy, also mentioned a game called Wii Relax (note the space). The title was officially announced on April 1 and hasn’t been mentioned since. Their website for Wii Relax is gone too so Pub Company’s “zen experience??? project may have been canceled, blocked, or perhaps purchased by Nintendo.

[Source]

Read into this, Bookworm on DS!

#1 Digital Word Game Comes to Nintendo’s Handheld Gaming Console with New Features and First-Ever Multiplayer Capabilities

(Press Release) – PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of the world’s most widely played video games, today announced the launch of Bookworm™ for Nintendo DS, a new adaptation of one of PopCap’s most successful franchises and the most popular digital word game in history. The Nintendo DS version of Bookworm is available now at major retail outlets for US $19.95.

“Bookworm has set the gold standard in word games, boasting over 100 million downloads to date across a variety of platforms,??? said Ed Allard, vice president of strategic development at PopCap. “With the Nintendo DS version, we’ve pulled out all the stops to give players even more deep content and specialized features than ever before. These include a Multiplayer mode for the first time ever in the popular Bookworm series that allows users to go head-to-head using one or two cartridges, as well as a library building system that provides exciting new game action for both old and new Bookworm players.???

In Bookworm, to complete each level, players link adjoining letter tiles to build words and feed “Lex.??? They’ll use Reward Tiles and spell Bonus Words to boost their score while overcoming obstacles such as burning tiles that end the game if they’re not used before they reach the bottom of the screen.

In this Nintendo DS adaptation, players will spell their way to a higher rank across three different game modes. Players can link letters in the fast-paced Action mode; if laid-back wordplay is more their style, Classic mode provides plenty of action at their own pace; or for the ultimate challenge, players can compete against friends in the Multiplayer mode. The Multiplayer mode is a new feature offered for the first time in any version of Bookworm, and is played over the DS WirelessCommunications network.

Players will test their vocabulary might with 20 themed Bonus Book Collections and the ability to build out 18 unique library rooms. They can also build their spelling skills and track their progress with in-depth stats and charts. Additionally, all features have been specifically tuned for dual-screen, vertical gameplay, allowing players to hold their DS like an actual book, while enjoying endless challenge and fun.

Key features include:
- Collect up to 20 books and build out 18 library rooms

- Customize game backgrounds with the libraries you’ve built

- Pick up and play — start working wordy wonders in seconds

- Unlimited levels keep players rising up the ranks in the Hall of Fame

- Watch your brain grow with the all-new Lex Ray

- Save high scores and best words for posterity

I’m all about fantasy, fascination, role playing, and yes I even dress my iPhone wallpaper according to the event I am attending (hey she likes to look nice too). But check this out, I never thought I’d see someone get totally wrapped up in a game so much that he wanted to marry it (although I have heard it being said hah)!

Mr. Sal9000 gathered around family, friends, an MC and a priest this week and pledged his undying love and commitment to a character (Nene Anegasaki) in the DS Game ‘Love Plus’. Not an online MMO relationship, but a digital character in the game.

Yeah I’m pretty sure she’s hot, she powers down when you say so, she really doesn’t care if you are out drinking with the BusyGamer Reckon Crew all night after the conventions, but I still wonder how things fare when the sparks start to fly. Ok, well maybe I’d rather not know – I just had an awful image of a DS being put in places that it really shouldn’t.

Regardless, the ceremony was held at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and was broadcast on the Japanese video sharing site, Nico Nico Douga, a place where “many strange things occur for, no doubt, extremely sound psychological reasons” – says CNET.

[Source]

Thanks to S1lent Samurai for giving us the lead on this!

-Crutchboy out