Filed under: VC Monday Madness

This week the Virtual Console gets a couple of good titles, which is good considering that there aren't many retail games for Wii owners to get their hands on. Blame the upcoming holiday, as it arrives mid-week and messes up our delicate game release cycle.

Today's Virtual Console update includes:
Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Ecco: The Tides of Time (Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) Dragon Spirit (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points) Anyone going to download some, or all, of these? If you're on the fence, be sure to stop by later for our VC Monday Madness video wrap-up.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Fan stuff

You may think that this is just a normal tiny Wiimote with a USB connector sticking out of it. Fooled you! If you can believe it, this is actually a USB thumb drive.

Reader Ryan Kruska put his existing thumb drive into a stylish cover made from one of the Wii toys from Wendy's. Then, because he is a kind and generous soul, he created a Flickr gallery with step-by-step instructions.

We'd love to see what else you guys can do with the Nintendo-themed kids' meal toys. It's like Wiimote hacking, but much less technical, and without as much financial investment! Also it doesn't do as much. But other than those things and probably some other things, exactly the same. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Ready to shape shift to protect the Earth from aliens? That's basically what you'll do in Ben 10: Protector of  Earth. The last time, we showed you some screenshots for the Wii version of the video game. Now we've got the first trailer, and allow us to say that this one's action-packed.

Ben 10: Protector of Earth from High Voltage Software and D3Publisher showcases the different aliens Ben Tennyson can morph into and the special ability each form has. In the trailer, we see the most used aliens in the Cartoon Network series: Fourarms, Wildvine, Heatblast, Cannonbolt, and XLR8. Of course we can also see Ben (as himself) in action, though the aliens' special moves are way cooler.

Anyway, we'll leave you to watch the trailer. Watch out for more Ben 10: Protector of Earth (for Wii, DS, PlayStation Portable, and PS2) news and info.

 
(Welcome to the first issue of QJ.NET's weekly feature, QuickJump QuickPeek! This weekly-updated spot will run the top news of the past week, think of it as your own directory of sorts to the week's news breakers in our second home we like to call video gaming industry. This page could contain something as trivial as Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft bigwigs gathering together for an afternoon teaparty or as groundbreaking as that teaparty turning into a free for all, take-out-as-many-gaming-execs-as-you-can brawl. With that, we take you to this week's mover and shakers...)

We weren't treated to news of filthy rich gaming execs going at each others' throats this week, but we did have an equally gory debacle with the Manhunt 2 and Red Ring of Death bad rap. There's also the groundbreaking release of PSP homebrew hero Fanjita's Illuminati exploit (via Lumines UMD) that later on brought us the highly anticipated 3.50 downgrader. Throw in the talks about Nintendo's WiiWare ...

 
The BBFC refusing to rate Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2 for either the Wii, PS2, or PSP has sparked the ire of many an adult gamer in Europe. An online petition which was started on the website of new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has emerged with hundreds of people joining in to fight the censorship of the game.

Only UK citizens are open to join in this  petition, though it may be assumed that more of these will be occurring in the next few weeks. So far there are 830 signatories in this online petition. Bradley Smith, the creator of this movement, gave a few words that are reminiscent of those spoken by Former ELPSA boss Roger Bennett.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Restrict the powers of the BBFC with regard to the banning of videogames.The BBFC have recently refused to rate the videogame Manhunt 2.

As such, adults in this country will never be allowed to play this game. Adults should be allowed to make their own decis...

 
Ready to go on another adventure for treasure? We've got another batch of screenshots of Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbados' Treasure from Capcom. The screenshots actually tell a snippet of Zack and Wiki's adventure and we'll go over that in a bit.

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbados' Treasure for the Wii is an adventure title where players can explore and interact with the in-game environment. You'll play as Zack, a pirate looking for treasure with the help of a talking skull. Now, in the game, players will have to use other means to get to some places they can't reach. The screenshots we have today illustrate how players can use an item to be able to reach the otherwise inaccessible objects in the game.

Anyway, you'll have to learn more about how to use that bell to turn the animals into the useful items. We'll try and dig up more info on Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbados' Treasure. In the meantime, check out the screenshots.



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The Broken Kingdoms by Darren Reid and NextGenBooks has some new stuff to offer this week. The biggest of which is a brand new quest that requires no violence and some sharp thinking, like all of the other quests in the game. The Tavra Cirty Quest will throw you into the thick of things as you try to find the lost histories for Lord Graceland.

If you're not familiar with the game, it's an MMORPG-style title for the Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, DS, and PSP. It balances action with puzzle-solving to make the game as diverse as can be. It has simple point and click controls that can be used to interact with the environment. The game is run using the browsers of each platform for ease of use.

One key feature that The Broken Kingdoms offers is that it has an in-game forum and profile creator that allows players to interact and create stuff at a whim. The developers call their title a more "casual" MMO which anyone can pick up and start to role-play with.

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Koei has confirmed that its new title Opoona is coming to Japan on September 27 for the Nintendo Wii. It's an RPG out of the ordinary as players will have to wield the Nunchuk if they want to play this one.

Opoona tells the tale of a character who plays the title role. His parents are killed after a trip to another planet and now our hero must travel to space colonies to seek some answers. Using the Nunchuk motions to throw bombs, players will have a rockin' good time.

No details have been divulged regarding an English version but it looks apparent as Koei has promoted the game in English after the confirmation of the Japanese version. We'll keep you posted for more on that.

All you Wii owners in Europe who are looking for more retro fun will be pleased to know that two more classics just rolled out. Kirby's Dream Course and Bloody Wolf are currently available in the Virtual Console.

Kirby's Dream Course is a golf spin-off of the popular series from the SNES. It was released originally in 1994 and was among Nintendo's top-sellers in the era. In this game, Kirby assumes the role of the ball and you get to whack him around as much as you want. You'll need to do that because the green has turned into a monster-infested place of chaos that only you can save.

On the other hand, you'll go behind enemy lines in Bloody Wolf as a special forces agent whose mission is to save the President from abductors. This game was a 1990 original from Turbografx.

The classics are available for 800 and 600 points respectively. Their addition has brought the total of Europe's VC titles to 103 and counting. We'll update you as soon as more games are on ...