Wii Party Message Board

It's officially a trend. One day after Sony introduced a cheaper, less functional PSP for Europe, Nintendo has announced a new budget Wii for the region. The new Wii, according to Nintendo UK, is designed to sit horizontally instead of vertically (although the original Wii can technically do both, so we aren't sure what the distinction is). The other major alteration is the loss of GameCube backward compatibility -- both games and accessories.

This new model will be released sometime before Christmas, in a bundle with a Wii Remote Plus, Nunchuk, Wii Party and Wii Sports. Other bundles will also be forthcoming. Eurogamer posted the above picture, and also got word from Nintendo that the company will "focus on the new Wii Bundle/s going forward," suggesting it won't coexist with the current model. Bye, GameCube!

#nintendo This Christmas, the Nintendo Wii is a getting a slight, wait for it, Wii-design. I mean redesign! More »

#ohyesofcourse Our long Mario Party drought is over! The last game in Nintendo's Mario Party series, Mario Party 8, was released in 2007. And the latest entry, Mario Party 9 was revealed today at the E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles. More »

As it does after every earnings report, Nintendo sent out a "supplementary" release featuring all of the first-party games that sold a million copies or more in the last fiscal year. One 3DS game made the cut: Nintendogs + Cats, which sold 460,000 units in Japan and 1.25 million in the West. The odds were kind of stacked in favor of this game -- it was released in three different versions, it was the only first-party game at launch, and puppies are cute.

On Wii, Mario Sports Mix made it into the million-seller category, with a worldwide 1.54 million copies. And Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition proved the viability (unfortunately) of selling an SNES game in a $30 box, by shifting 2.24 million units. On DS, Pokémon Black and White are up to a combined 11.51 million units, which, in our professional estimation, is an uncomfortably large number.

From sparking instant social fun with friends to putting an interactive twist on family gatherings, Nintendo's Wii Sports Resort and Wii Party games are surefire ways to get groups of all ages on their feet and laughing together. Starting April 25, each of these two must-have games for the motion-co...

We'll be the first to admit it's nigh impossible to grasp the nuances of just what in the world is going on with the global economy, but things are clearly up you-know-whose creek without a paddle when Nintendo reports a ... loss?! Sure, earnings were seriously down for Nintendo during the same six-month period last year (April-September), but even then, as other companies suffered tremendous hits, Nintendo enjoyed ¥65.9 million in profit (which was roughly $766 million by the rate of exchange a year ago).

The problem is that the yen has appreciated wildly against the dollar since that time -- what was $766 million a year ago, would be more like $851 million today. In and of itself, that kind of appreciation might look spectacular, except 81.4 percent of Nintendo's sales are overseas. When the yen is this strong, earnings on Japanese exports (sold with importers' currencies) are dashed on their way back to Japan (where they are converted back to yen). According to Nintendo's first-half fiscal year report (April-Sept. 2010), "foreign currencies generated exchange losses totaling 62.1 billion yen," and, in turn, the company suffered net losses of ¥2 billion (about $24.6 million) for the period.

Keep in mind, this loss comes after selling 4.07 million copies of Pokémon Black and White since September 18 (in Japan alone); 5.1 million units of Super Mario Galaxy 2; and a million-plus Wii Party games. Worldwide, DS software sales totaled 54.84 million units, while Wii games accounted for 65.21 million units sold in the first-half of the fiscal year.

As for hardware, the various DS models combined to move 6.69 million units (including 2.26 million DSi and 3.21 million DSi XLs), as Wii racked up another 4.97 million units sold during the period. And did you hear? The new red Wii and DSi XL are going to be released next month to celebrate ... uh, the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., of course!

Here's the latest communique from the UK: Medal of Honor managed to premiere in the top spot of the UK sales chart, ousting FIFA 11, which had a 65 percent drop in sales and slipped to second. Although Chart-Track won't share raw intel on sales figures, it claims MoH had the fourth and fifth biggest premieres for 2010 on Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively.

Just Dance 2, the sequel to the unbelievably stalwart chart topper, debuted in third place. The original Just Dance has been the best selling game on one format in the UK this year and, even with its sequel out, still managed to secure a spot at #12 last week. This is only the seventh time since hitting the Wii-exclusive dance floor that the title has been out of the top ten.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Enslaved both slipped four spots last week to tenth and eleventh, respectively. There's little hope that either of these quality games will hang around the top ten for more than a couple weeks, especially as the incoming competition keeps heating up. Check out the UK's top ten after the break.

Definitely a different vibe than the promo video with that guy and girl…

#wii Nintendo has had its fair share of celebrity pitch ladies. There's been Nicole Kidman, Liv Tyler and Beyonce. The United Kingdom is getting the The Queen. More »

Mario and friends get a break and let the Miis do all the multiplayer mini-games in Nintendo's latest.

#clips Nintendo's Wii Party is more than just a collection of enjoyable mini-games. It's also the ideal instrument to get you the girl of your dreams, even if she's currently dating a total douchebag who just happens to have great hair. More »

Wii Sports -- and to a lesser extent Wii Play -- proved that in Nintendo's hands, even the most banal motion-based minigames can have a certain spark that makes them addictive. There's just an unidentifiable ... something that nobody else has been able to crack that makes those minigame collections absolutely delightful even to people who desperately want to hate them.

Wii Party is a glimpse into what Nintendo minigames would be like without that spark. They all work, they all show plenty of polish, and the controls are totally functional in every single case. But, in a word, they're bland. Toothless. With one major exception, that's the best way to describe Wii Party in general. It's totally inoffensive. You'll have some fun playing it, but you won't really come away feeling satisfied. It's just there.

Official Nintendo Magazine has put together a list of upcoming European release dates for Wii and DS games. For those of you who don't want to wait for the 3DS, three new DSi XL colors (yellow, green, and blue) will be in stores on October 8. You'll be able to use that new DS for Professor Layton and the Lost Future, out October 22, Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs, out November 19, and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, arriving December 10.

Wii owners in the UK can look forward to Wii Party on October 8, FlingSmash on November 19, Donkey Kong Country Returns on December 3, and in the most random announcement of the day ... Mario Party 2 on the Virtual Console some time in December. Better grab some extra Classic Controllers, because you're going to break the ones you have.

A portion of an NWR review… The party game genre may have overstayed its welcome on the Wii, but when you have games like Disney’s Guilty Party and now Wii Party it’s OK to just sit back and have fun. This is one party you won’t regret attending.

#clips Earlier this week I received a Wii Party pinata in the mail, it was pretty clear what had to be done. More »

Our friends at Nintendo wanted us to kick off the party a bit early, which is why they sent over a Wii Party press kit today. Check out all the goodies inside! function getVideo() { var so = new SWFObject("http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/xplayer/yo033.swf", "mplayer", "420", "340", "8", "#000000"); so.addParam("wmode","transparent"); so.addParam("swliveconnect", "true"); so.addParam("allowscriptaccess", "always"); so.addParam("allowfullscreen", "true"); so.addVariable("pid", "goni001"); so.addVariable("siteId", "485"); so.addVariable("videoId", "198391"); so.addVariable("autostart", "false"); so.addVariable("file", "http://cms.springboard.gorillanation.com/xml_feeds_advanced/index/485/3/198391/"); so.addVariable("pageUrl", document.location); so.write("flashcontent_485_goni001_single_198391"); } getVideo(); You can also [...]

Mario's out and the Miis are in for Nintendo's latest mini-game celebration.

Much in the vein of Wii Play, it seems the European version of Wii Party will come with an additional, savory bonus: an extra Wii Remote. According to Siliconera, every copy of the game (which drops in Europe October 8) will come with a new controller -- a slight departure from the game's Japanese release strategy, which offered a controller bundle for 6,800 yen ($81), and a controller-less copy of the game for 4,800 yen ($57).

The game will be out in North America on October 3, but we still haven't heard whether we'll also be able to choose between different Wii Party SKUs. Sometimes you feel like a Wiimote, but sometimes you don't, you know? (Particularly when you already have four.)

ND Cube, the developer behind the Nintendo-published Wii release Wii Party, has been brought into the Big N's fold, according to a new "Iwata Asks" feature on the console-maker's Japanese site. In it, it's revealed that Nintendo has purchased a 96 percent stake in ND Cube, effectively becoming its new owner. (We're counting the days until Nintendo renames it "ND Wii.")

The purchase comes after brisk sales of Wii Party, to the tune of 320k copies sold in its first week on shelves. The game was announced for North American release during E3 and is scheduled to arrive on these shores October 3.

#nintendo Mario Party games, those part games featuring...Mario, aren't actually made by Nintendo. They are made by Hudson Soft. And it's no wonder they are similar to the newly released Wii Party. More »

Nintendo dominates the summer sales season, as usual.