wario

Play time with the new games of Wii U

The world is annoyed with Facebook, but I'm stressed out over zombies:

Last week, Facebook automaticly changed the email address displayed in profiles to be the Facebook email that no one uses. Well the drama doesn't end there. Some smartphones that sync contacts with Facebook have auto-updated address book info with Facebook emails. Do yourself (and your friends) a favor and make sure the right email is listed in your profile. If you think you're missing emails because of this change-up, click on Messages in the left-hand column, then click on Other. That's where Facebook hides … Read more

15 reasons to buy a Wii

Wait a second, you ask; why am I discussing buying a Wii in 2011? Your skepticism is justified: this holiday season, Nintendo feels like a shadow of its former self.

Still, seeing an ad for a $99 Wii this Black Friday has made me wonder: would I still recommend buying a Wii this year?

It's complicated. Check out my list of the best Wii games ever made, and see if you agree.

The recent release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has turned attention once again on the Nintendo Wii, a console that's largely felt left for … Read more

WarioWare D.I.Y.: The trouble with doing it yourself

One of our all-time favorite games is WarioWare, especially the first installment for the Game Boy Advance. The clever idea of remixing Nintendo's old properties into an irreverent hyperspeed assortment of challenges was revolutionary at the time, and had great replay value.

The series has evolved and with it, we're now introduced to arguably the most ambitious effort yet: the ability to create WarioWare minigames. However, in WarioWare D.I.Y. it almost feels like the franchise is regressing rather than progressing. The beauty of the randomness of WarioWare was in guessing which buttons or inputs needed to be used and in what manner in order to pass the challenge. In D.I.Y., inputs are limited to screen tapping, which is itself a reduction compared with the touching/writing motions in WarioWare Touched (the last DS game in the series). As far as a collection of games, WarioWare D.I.Y. is the weakest assortment yet.

The new addition this time, however, is a robust editor for creating new minigames from scratch. Art, animation, AI routines, and even music composition create a toolkit that's amazingly deep for a handheld game. We were instantly transported back to the days of Mario Paint using its onboard game and music composers, which served as some positive familiarity with the creation process. … Read more

Nintendo debuts new DS and DSi Shop titles at E3 press conference

On display at the Nintendo E3 2009 press conference was a handful of yet-to-be announced portable gaming titles for the DS and DSi Shop.

A new Kingdom Hearts portable game was announced, the first DS version of the Square Enix and Disney collaboration franchise. RPG fans have even more reasons to be excited as Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and Golden Sun DS were also announced. Expect Bowser's Inside Story this fall, while Golden Sun DS should arrive in 2010.

Nintendo showcased a desire to appeal to fans of James Patterson novels as Women's Murder Club: … Read more

DSiWare, WiiWare, and Virtual Console releases for this week

DSiWare joins our weekly post with six new additions to the DSi Shop. Also ready for download today is a marble balance game on WiiWare and a oceanic exploration title from the days of Super Nintendo. DSiWare Nintendo DSi Browser (Nintendo, FREE): The first free app in the DSi Shop, the Opera-powered DSi Browser will let you surf the Web on your DSi. Bird & Beans (Nintendo, 200 DSi Points): This mini game lets you control Pyro, a bird with an elastic tongue. Use it to grab falling beans and earn more points the quicker you catch them! Master of … Read more

DSiWare: Pricing, browser, promotion revealed

Two weeks ago, we gave you an exclusive hands-on First Look at the Nintendo DSi, the company's second refresh of the DS portable gaming system. While we had to hold back some juicy details about the DSi, we can now let you in on all the fun.

The DSi Shop, which will go live April 5, will offer downloadable games and applications via the DSi Shop that you can store on either the 256MB of internal storage or on an SD card. When Nintendo visited us a few weeks ago, we got to play some DSiWare titles like WarioWare … Read more

Willrio, the REAL master of disguise

When public relations companies send games to reviewers, they seldom send just the game. Usually it's the game, plus some colorful tissue paper, a snow globe, a mouse pad, or something like that. That's known as "swag," which is used by marketing departments and public relations firms to help build up hype about products.

Sometimes said marketers/PR reps make strange choices.

We recently got sent Wario: Master of Disguise for the Nintendo DS. It's the usual story of Wario stealing treasures and whatnot, this time using a magic wand (read: DS stylus) that can … Read more