Filed under: News, Tech stuff, Homebrew, Channels

In releasing the final version of the Opera web browser for the Wii, it was believed that all security threats evident in the trial version of the channel were fixed. Turns out, that might not be the case, as hackers are finding a new exploit in the included browser's Flash Player. Through this loophole, it's believed that hackers could get emulators running on the system. This, for obvious reasons, would be a disaster for Nintendo.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Several new games for the Wii have been released, and Jared Black calls the combination “one of the best Wii Virtual Console trios yet.” Paper Mario, Silent Debuggers, and Balloon Fight will go for 1000, 600, and 500 Wii points, respectively, according to the Video Game Generation writer. I think we all know what that [...]

Filed under: Virtual Console, Imports

Even though we usually support the more obscure VC releases, we can't help but focus our attention on this week's most mainstream title: Castlevania. Finally making its appearance on the Japanese Virtual Console, Konami's side-scroller is a must-buy. I personally consider "liking Castlevania a lot" as an important component of my personality. What an awesome night to have a curse.

Like Castlevania, Power Sports and Dead Moon have both already arrived in the US (Power Sports as World Sports Competition), and Ichidant-R, a Bonanza Bros. spinoff, is the sequel to Tant-R, seen on the Sega Classics Collection. A multiplayer puzzle minigame collection, Ichidant-R is sort of a precursor to Mario Party and Wario Ware.

Hajimari no Mori is a graphical text adventure from Nint...

In a recent interview by GameDaily.biz, George Harrison talks about the Game Boy and WiiWare. GameDaily.biz hasn't published the whole interview yet though so there's still some more coming.

But one thing to note in the interview is mention of the Game Boy's "retirement." Harrison commented in an interview during E3 that "this year [...] you really won't see much push against Game Boy itself [...] It's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark." With the DS so popular, attention was slowly diverted away from the Game Boy and gamers aren't really clamoring for new games on the handheld so there isn't much call for it to make a comeback.

The DS can be seen as a natural evolution of the Game Boy, and in many ways it is. Part of the reason that the DS wasn't given the same name was that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata wanted to reach a new audience with the DS's new approach to handheld gaming. Harrison puts it to us in this way:
...

EA Sports is taking its Madden NFL series off the cyber grass and into the real world with its "Ring of a Champion" promo in cooperation with Minnesota jeweler Jostens to award elite players a chance to get tokens that will show off their accomplishments.

Jostens has created roughly half the championship rings given out in the history of the Super Bowl. Now, players of the video game version can have the honor of wearing a ring from the same maker by accomplishing virtual achievements of cyber-athleticism. That and a little sum for the piece, of course.

Users will have to pass through three skill levels to prove that they've got game in them. Once the challenges are conquered, a code is given in order to unlock the Madden "Ring of a Champion" promo on the Jostens website. You can then choose a design you want and decide whether you want it in white or yellow gold. Those go for US 495, while the ones with real diamonds sell for a higher, undisclosed amount. Basic ones...

Controversial host Keith Chegwin has been hired by game outfit Oxygen Games to host their new title Cheggers' Party Quiz, set to be released in this year's last quarter for the PS2, PC, and Nintendo Wii.

The game will feature the TV personality asking more than a thousand questions which all have references to the entertainment industry. Players must rack their brains for every shred of media savvy because the items range from the easy to the downright stumping.

Chegwin is most popular for an edition of his show Naked Jungle where all of the participants including Chegwin himself taped the duration of the episode without an inch of clothing on.

"Who doesn't love Cheggers?" asks Jim Scott, Oxygen's CEO. He then goes on to describe the host as the perfect choice for the role as he is incredibly popular and a lot of fun to watch.

Eiji Aonuma, producer of the Legend of Zelda series has just finished the Phantom Hourglass for Nintendo. He tells Wired News that his team will create Zelda experiences on both Wii and DS.

Looks like a lot of people are becoming more and more interested in Wii Fit and its introduction of the Wii Balance Board to the gaming industry. Two of which are none other than Motomu Toriyama and Eisuke Yokoyama of Final Fantasy fame.

As pointed out by Ishaan in a recent blog post, an IGN-conducted E3 interview with the Square Enix big wigs revealed some interesting plans for future games. While the most part of the sit down focused on their upcoming Ivalice Alliance installment, Final Fantasy: Revenant Wings, they touched on certain E3-related developments.

In response to a question on incorporating the DS's Wi-Fi and microphone features to future titles, Toriyama also expressed interest in the whole concept of Wii Fit. Here's what happened immediately afterward:

Is there going to be a Final Fantasy-themed fitness game?
Toriyama: There are no actual plans to take Final Fantasy into the fitness genre, but that whole system and mechanism of using your w...

Everybody's favorite monster is back and this time, he's aboard the Nintendo Wii to give us all a new feel of his power. Yup, the Tokyo-smashing behemoth Godzilla has made an appearance in E3 and he's all primed to receive the Wiimote treatment. Have a look as the devs tell us more coming from E3 2007:


The look of Godzilla Unleashed is pretty familiar with all the macro-mayhem going on. Notice how the makers of this game emphasize the revitalization of the Story Mode which isn't quite what the franchise has been known for. In any case, it'll be interesting to see how much deeper the plot can get when we finally get to play it.

The controls, as discussed, will try and harness the excellent intuition that the Wiimote is known for. There are 23 monsters in the game and all of them will be ready to trample late in the year. Go get it for Christmas if you're to feel big again.

If there was ever an 8-bit classic that should be remade, Balloon Fight would be a shoo-in on the contenders. We may never see that come to pass but we're still very happy that we can still enjoy the original today thanks to the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console.

The premise of this game is simple: you're strapped on to a pair of balloons while a set number of enemies with single balloons appear every level. All you have to do is to pop their balloons and watch them plummet haplessly into the water below where they'll either drown or get snacked on by what appears to be a huge trout. Sometimes, though, the "bad guys" get lucky and fall to floating platforms. In this case, you'll have to kick them off the ledges and send them to their watery graves. And they say this was a "kid's game" from back in the day?

The original balloon fight was developed and published by Nintendo as an arcade game in 1984 and was later ported to home game systems. This video brings back some nos...