Super Mario Galaxy Review [Game Trailers Video Review]

The wait in the US is almost over. Just a few more days and you’ll be playing Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii. So far the game has been getting very high scores from around the net, and has sold over 250,000 copies in Japan the first week alone.

Here is Game Tailer’s video review of Super Mario Galaxy:

In just a few days you will too be dusting off your Wiimotes and firing up Super Mario Galaxy. If you haven’t done so yet, pre-order it from Amazon now, or if you are the adventurous type, you can walk into a Toys R Us on Tuesday evening at 5pm, fight off(or step over) the herd of little kids, to pickup your SMG copy along with a $25 gift card.

Gamestop unsolicited voicemail messages asking for used Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii

Gamestop wants to buy your used games. They want them bad. Now they have started calling customers who have placed pre-orders asking to buy the game back. These messages are unsolicited, and should not be allowed. Isn’t it bad enough that every time you walk into their stores they bother you about pre-orders and buying your used games? Now they will call you at home too. In this voicemail they call us and ask to buy back our copy of Twilight Princess for the Nintendo Wii.

Here is the audio, click play to listen to the voicemail:

UPDATE: Audio/Video now works!

Where to buy the Wii Remote and Nunchuk

It seems that the Wii Remote (WiiMote) and Nunchuk are actually harder to find than the Nintendo Wii console these days. If you were lucky enough to buy a Wii, then you are probably stuck with just one Wii Remote and Nunchuk,

Good news for everyone. Instead of looking at your local Gamestop every other day, just head over to the Nintendo Store and buy them online. Even though the Nintendo store may have a message saying they are back-ordered, Nintendo seem to be shipping both the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk out on a regular basis. It took about 4-5 days to get a Wii Remote directly from the Nintendo Store, and a Nunchuk is now on it’s way with hardly any delay. Regular ground shipping will only cost you a few extra bucks, and you can always opt to ship 2-day or overnight.

Here are the direct product links.

Buy the Wii Remote
Buy the Nunchuk

Good luck!

Video: Half-Life 2 with a Wii Remote on a computer

Here’s a rather long video of someone playing Half-Life2 using a Wii Remote on Windows.

You can find out how to make the Wii Remote to work with your Windows PC by visiting WiiLi.org Now we need someone to try Halo with the WiiMote.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz freezes the Nintendo Wii

Someone either forgot to beta test this Monkey Ball mini game for the Nintendo Wii, or their beta testers weren’t good enough to get a high enough score. Regardless, come on Sega! Did you just not program for the event that someone reached 99?

How hard is it to put in a “You win” message, or just roll back over to 01?

Here’s our video of Sega’s Super Monkey Ball freezing the Wii - This ‘bug’ has been reproduced numerous times by our “tester”:

Zelda Twilight Princess intro remix to the Mad World song

Remember the Gears of War teaser to the “Mad World” song? Well, we took the Zelda: Twilight Princess opening sequence and put it to the same music, and here’s how it came out.

Here is the video:

Have you made your own? Share it with us.

Wii Sells 600,000 Units in First Week - Zelda: 454,000

WII IS A MASSIVE HIT

600,000 First-Week Purchases Attracting Veteran and New Gamers

REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 27, 2006 - Built on a foundation of pure fun, Nintendo’s new Wii™ video game system sold through to more than 600,000 consumers in the Americas in just its first eight days of availability. That’s a rate of nearly one per second continuously since the Nov. 19 launch. Including just first-party software and accessory sales, Wii instantly has become a $190 million business in the Americas.

During the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend, there was plenty of conversation across the nation about the high demand for the Wii system, with the acknowledgment that if you see one, you’d better buy it.

“Even with sales already in excess of 600,000 units, demand continues to exceed supply, as it’s clear this is one of the ‘gotta-have’ products for the holiday season,” says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “We’ve shipped retailers several times the amount of hardware the other company was able to deliver for its launch around the same time - and we still sold out. Given the inclusive nature of Wii game play, we’re seeing this new form of video gaming is already a huge hit with gamers and newcomers alike. It continues to be a phenomenal launch.”

The system also is succeeding in its stated mission of reinvigorating current players, while attracting new ones. Every Wii system includes the five-game Wii Sports™ software, which is the talk of the Internet, featuring countless reports on how previously devout non-gamers have suddenly been converted via the amazing new way games are experienced using the system’s remarkable controller. At the same time, the masterful The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess, a favorite of avid gamers, already has achieved sales of more than 454,000 units in the Americas, representing more than 75 percent of all hardware purchasers.

Licensees, pleased not only with the sales performance of the Wii, but also its creative development capabilities, are publicly sharing their comments:

“Madden NFL 07 is a great example of how the Wii gives players a whole new experience on their favorite games,” says EA Studio President Paul Lee. “EA’s creative teams are working to build more Wii features into some of our most popular franchises.”

“The creativity we’ve been able to unleash on the Wii system with our game Red Steel has been eye-opening for our development teams,” explains Ubisoft President Laurent Detoc. “Having the opportunity to design and develop entirely new game-play experiences using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk is both exciting and rewarding.”

Classic games also are proving to be a hit on Wii, which offers downloadable access to 20 years of the best of Nintendo®, Sega Genesis® and TurboGrafx16™ hits via the system’s Virtual Console™ feature.

The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™, Nintendo DS™, Game Boy® Advance and Nintendo GameCube™ systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.2 billion video games and more than 387 million hardware units globally, and has created industry icons like Mario™, Donkey Kong®, Metroid®, Zelda™ and Pokémon®. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.nintendo.com.

Review: Metroid Prime - Hunters - Nintendo DS

Metroid Prime - Hunters
Developer: NST
ESRB: T (Teen) | Game Type: FPS
iBT Score: 90%

Big accomplishments can come in small packages. Metroid Prime - Hunters(MPH) has the level of quality that you would expect from a console platform. Done in very similar fashion to Metroid Prime on the Nintendo Gamecube, It scores big in the graphics, sound and game play departments. MPH also has a great multi-player feature that will keep your skills sharp. Throw in a decent story line and you’ve got a game chock full of fun. Its Metroid and you can bring it with you wherever you go!!

The Story
In the most distant reaches of space, beyond the territories controlled by the Galactic Federation, is the Tetra Galaxy, once home to a mighty race known as the Alimbics. An advanced civilization, peaceful, prosperous and powerful, the Alimbics maintained stability over the region forcefully but judiciously. They reigned over a vast region known as the Alimbic Cluster. One day, perhaps thousands of years ago, perhaps tens of thousands, they simply disappeared, leaving behind artifacts, all scattered across the Alimbic Cluster, all protected by a lethal arsenal of the Alimbics’ most advanced weaponry.

Today, for the first time in centuries, the long-dormant Alimbic System is stirring, delivering strange tidings. A telepathic communiqué, originating in Alimbic Cluster, has downloaded into the brains of some of the most exceptional beings in our galaxy. The message translates into a thousand different languages on a thousand different worlds. But the message always is the same: “The secret to ultimate power resides in the Alimbic Cluster.”

This message has intrigued and enticed some of the most formidable bounty hunters in the galaxy to make the long journey to the Alimbic Cluster, each of these great warriors motivated by a different reason. Some desire power for themselves, or for their planet or people, while others simply have a relentless desire to hunt, or to kill, along with a fierce determination to prove themselves the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. Now, it’s a race against time to see which bounty hunter will triumph over the others, who will discover the secret behind this promise of “ultimate power.”

The Galactic Federation has heeded this strange, suspicious communication as well, and has called for the help of Samus Aran. Her mission: to discover the truth about this mysterious message, to protect against a potential threat, and to keep the Alimbics’ ultimate power from falling into the wrong hands.

The Controls
The Controls are nicely laid out on the DS, using the D-pad for walk/strafe and the stylus is used for looking/aiming. To jump you simply tap the screen twice with the stylus. The morph ball, scanner and weapon select are all done through the touchscreen Interface. The left bumper is used for firing your weapon. It does take a bit of getting used to holding the DS with one hand and then using that same hand to move Samus around, but once done it works nicely. There are also a few other control schemes which seem more traditional. I picked up the controls by just playing around, all are pretty intuitive.

Graphics & Sound
Graphics. Where to start? They are simply amazing for a DS game! The level designs are nice, everything has been nicely textured. The Morphball looks pretty cool also. One little annoyance that I had was that some of the enemies were so small at a distance that they seem to vanish, making it hard to aim.. but given the amount of screen real estate that the DS has, I’m not complaining. They did top it off with some very nice FMV sequences though.

Good standard stereo sound with lots of sound effects, and the level music is on par with Metroid tunes.

Lasting Appeal
If you like First person shooters, this game will take up a good chunk of your time. This game really feels like it should just explode right out of the DS and onto a console.. it’s that well rounded and polished. I love bringing it with me where ever I go, and single cart multi-player and online multi-player is a hit! Once you complete the single player mode, take the game online for a little 4 player death-match FPS action. This is another Metroid trophy for my shelf.

iBT scores this game 90%

Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess - Trailer and Title screen videos

I don’t think that these videos of Zelda: Twilight Princess need any explaining, so drool over them for the next 15 days.

Trailer:

Title screen:

Tendo Luv - The Nintendo rap song

There is no way to explain this other than it’s a rap song dedicated to Nintendo.

So.. without further ado, we present to you: “Tendo Luv” by Ffejory Plexco feat. Kip Beats

You gotta love You Tube!

(Thanks for the tip, Rob)