All Wii Features

E3 Close Standing (Wii)

Jul 23, 2008

E3 is hard. The grip of monotonous press conferences, overlapping appointments, games to play, people to talk to, and drinks to drink quickly transformed us from skeptical but eager journos into bags of dehydrated flesh and tangled wires.

After considerably little thought, our response to the whole thing was, "To hell with it, why should we try to think of interesting things to say about avatars, REM, and make-believe saxophones when ...

SHIT games that scraped a seven out of ten (Wii)

Jul 23, 2008

Let’s be honest. You don’t need a certified games “journalist” to explain why Grand Theft Auto IV is awesome or that the Dirty Dancing videogame is shit. You’re intelligent. You know what kinds of games you love and which ones you despise. ...

The 100 lamest game-industry clichés (Wii)

Jul 22, 2008

1. All in all - A code phrase signifying the start of the final paragraph of a review, wherein the writer will sum up the meat of his opinion in a few brief sentences. If you see this at the end of a review, it's a clear sign that the last paragraph is the only one you actually needed to read.

2. Immersive - So fascinating and realistic, it almost makes you forget that you're actually sitting on a couch, twitching your thumbs ...

Ads that subtract (Wii)

Jul 22, 2008

What is Nintendo’s biggest influence on the modern gaming scene? Motion controls? The meteoric rise of the casual market? The range of lifestyle games? They’re all biggies, no doubt. But for our money we’d have to say that the reinvention of the game advert has undoubtedly sent more shockwaves through the gaming bedrock than any of these. ...

30 Reasons Leipzig Might Kill Off E3 This Year (Wii)

Jul 22, 2008

E3 2008 was on the whole a rather lame affair. But there is a great big hope on the horizon, and that hope is the Leipzig Games Convention, which happens next month in Germany ...

The Top 7... Lazy Character Clichés (Wii)

Jul 21, 2008

Game design must be super, super hard. What else can explain the number of shortcuts being taken in almost every one? Genres are repeated, environments are recycled and storylines all begin to sound the same. Most copied, however, are the characters. Dreaming up an entirely new personality with entirely new traits is a daunting task, so the majority of folks you meet in games end up feeling identical to the folks you met in previous games. ...

What is Seven out of 10 Week? (Wii)

Jul 21, 2008

Now that the dust has settled from the most aggressively mediocre E3 yet, we've entered that yearly lull in which the game industry kicks off its shoes and takes a pre-autumn nap. With crumminess behind and boredom ahead, we can't think of a better time to dedicate this week to a celebratory prodding of all that is banal, boring and mediocre in the game industry. In the coming days, we'll drag the laziest aspects of our industry - kicking ...

The dating game (Wii)

Jul 21, 2008

Find cow? Fund cave? Food core? We all sat round trying to work out what was written next to my name on the office whiteboard, my task for the week. Wait, I remember: ‘Find love’. That’s it. I have to find love in a videogame. This actually makes sense. ...

Edge Online: E3 Must Change Or Die (Wii)

Jul 21, 2008

What function does E3 actually serve? Edge Online lists the dubious benefits of E3, and how they might be generated in different, better ways. ...

E3 08: Lost at E3 (Wii)

Jul 18, 2008

E3 is not so different from being trapped on a supernatural island wondering what the hell is going on. Our video response should clarify things for you. Enjoy!Jul 18, ...

E3 08: Best (and worst) trailers (Wii)

Jul 18, 2008

While there’s plenty of griping around the internets about a piss-poor E3’s boring press conferences and lack of big announcements, we saw plenty of great trailers for great games that we can’t wait to play. ...

E3 08: An 11-step Recipe For A (Mostly) Crap E3 (Wii)

Jul 18, 2008

The key ingredients which dictated the flavour of this year's show ...

E3 08: The Most Excruciating Moments (Wii)

Jul 17, 2008

E3 may be getting smaller and smaller, holding fewer and fewer surprises, but you can still count on the show for one thing - horrible, horrible press conferences. When a bunch of corporate suits and publicity flaks try to relate to gamers, while still hitting all their boardroom selling points, the results are never pretty.

2008 is certainly no different. After only two days, we've already suffered through an agonizing gauntlet of ...

E3 08: E3 in numbers! (Wii)

Jul 17, 2008

So there’s this book knocking around E3. It’s produced by the (yawn) Entertainment Software Association. It’s green. It’s full of, and I quote, “Essential facts about the computer and video game industry. It’s quite dull and probably only of use to marketing types who like pleated trousers, wear ear-piece phones (ACKKKK!) and talk in serious tones about “fiscal years.” Either way, we ...

E3 08: Nintendo E3 98 Vs Nintendo E3 08 (Wii)

Jul 17, 2008

We're so depressed by Nintendo's E3 line-up that we've gone to all the bother of digging up a list of the games that Nintendo was actively promoting at E3 in 1998, just so we could compare them with this year's official line-up and subsequently have a moan about how things aren't as good as they used to be 10 years ago. ...

E3 08: E3 Then and Now (Wii)

Jul 16, 2008

If you've been following the games industry for any length of time you're keenly aware of E3. It was once the biggest show we had, a time of year when the entire world focused on the LA Convention Center and put on the loudest, craziest, busiest trade show video games could muster. Some loved it, others couldn't stand the shoulder-to-shoulder, body-odor addled conditions. Doesn't matter now, as the once proud and mighty E3 has shrunk like a ...

E3 08: Why wait? E3's biggest games reviewed NOW (Wii)

Jul 15, 2008

You know the problem with E3? You have to wait months before you find out if a game that looked great in July is going to kick ass or blow goats when it finally arrives in November. And it it sucks, you feel deflated. If only you could read, right here and right now, which games are really worth eagerly anticipating and which you should just start fitting for cement shoes right now. Wouldn't that make the world a better place?

Here, for the very first time, are the exclusive first reviews for all of the games you're most excited about this very E3. ...

E3 08: Nintendo Press Conference (Wii)

Jul 15, 2008

As we did with Microsoft, we jotted all this down as it happened.

Nintendo's big day, where they'll allegedly announce their biggest games for the rest of the year, began with a Shaun White Snowboarding reveal. As expected, it's all about the Balance Board, leaning and tucking to race down a rocky mountainside or pull off tricks in a halfpipe. Based on what we saw, Mr. White himself didn't do much other than simply lean to execute ...

E3 08: Hub (Wii)

Jul 14, 2008

E3 is the only place in the world that matters this week. Literally hundreds of games are going to be shown in glitzy press conferences and one sweaty Los Angeles Convention Center

Therefore, we've hammered together this one-stop shop to bring you all the sights, sounds and sensory overloads from the week-long center of the videogaming universe.

You'll find features here on this page, and more ...

The roots of open-world games (Wii)

Jul 11, 2008

Todd Howard, game director at Bethesda reckons gamers love freedom. “They feel more like the character they’re playing.” he explains. “They’re doing what they want to do and not what you, the designer, wants them to do. The more open, the more reactive you can make it, the better the player experience.” ...